

D P 

72. 

D35 



O^T THIS 




O'F 

SPAIN, 

{Read before the Amer. Phil. Soc, January 15, 1875,) 

BY % / 



7 



Late Director of the Bureau of Statistics of the United 
States, Member of the International Congresses at Flor- 
ence, The Hague, and St. Petersburg; of the Societe 

DE StATISQUE OF PARIS ; OF THE LlGUE DE L' ENSEIGNE- 

ment of Brussels ; of the Chamber of Com- 
merce, and Liberal Club, of New York, 
etc., ETC. 



I'CALLA t ST A V ELY, PRS., 237-9 DOCK ST.. PHILA 



THE RESOURCES, PRODUCTIONS AND SOCIAL CONDITION 

OF SPAIN. 



By Alexander D slmar, 

LATE DIRECTOR OE THE BUREAU OE STATISTICS OP THE UNITEP STATES, ETC. 

{Bead before the American Philosophical Society, January 15, 1875.) 
Introduction. 

Until very lately there were few or no histories or works of reference 
in the English language relating to Spain which contained any informa- 
tion with regard to that country later than for the period 1855-61 ; and 
a survey of the condition of Spain from the stand-point thus afforded 
presented but a gloomy prospect. During the sixty-one years ending 
with the latest date to which these works bring the student, the popula- 
tion of Europe and America had nearly doubled, and this increase in the 
numbers of the foremost races of the world was, as it always is, merely 
the type of that vast and almost universal material progress which ren- 
ders such increase possible. 

During the same momentous period, serfdom and slavery had been 
condemned or abolished in both continents, and with it the feudal system 
and the corvee. During the same time mankind had armed itself with 
the titanic powers of steam and electricity, and rushed with renewed 
strength into that perpetual struggle with nature, which is its heritage, 
but in the maintenance of which, at about the beginning of the period 
referred to, it had become well- nigh exhausted, for lack of suitable 
weapons and appropriate agencies. This epoch, too, had witnessed 
in many countries the separation of Church and State, the obliteration 
of castes, the spread of popular education, the establishment of popular 
representation, the mobilization of proprietary rights, the development 
of great scientific progress, and a brilliant series of discoveries in every 
department of thought. 

During all this time, marked by the mightest strides of material 
progress which the world had ever seen, that country of Europe which, 
while the rest of the Continent was shrouded in the darkness and 
bigotry and superstition of the Middle Ages, once held aloft the lamp of 
science and built up with the hands of its Semetic occupiers a civilization 
several centuries in advance of its time; that country from which subse- 
quently went forth the imperial dicta that controlled one -half of the 
Continent, and all of the newly discovered world beyond the Western 
Ocean, lay inert and motionless. 

The country of Abderrahman, of Alfonso el Sabio, of Ximenes, had 
made no sensible progress for centuries. The numbers of the people were 
substantially the same, the institutions were the same, the lives they led 
were the same. So late as the year 1855 but one-fifth of the surface of Spain 
was cultivated; the rest had been blasted by a ruinous system of exploita- 



2 



tion. A great portion of the entire country, cultivated and uncultivated, 
was owned by the Church and nobility. The Inquisition had been but re- 
cently suppressed; the peasantry were still in a condition of serfdom, the 
corvee was in vogue, the country swarmed with drones, bandits, smugglers, 
vagabonds and beggars; religious liberty was denied, and popular education 
was almost wholly unknown. There was no scientific development ; no 
well-established middle class, and but the beginnings of a newspaper 
press and a railway and telegraph system. There were few or no roads, 
or manufactories, while commerce was restricted, and free discussion 
prohibited. In a word, Spain, though she had made more than one abortive 
attempt to do so, had not yet fully awakened from the torpid condition 
into which she had been cast ages before by the cold hands of ambitious, 
unpatriotic and selfish ecclesiastics. The rest of the world had long since 
awakened to a life of freedom and joined in the race of modern develop- 
ment ; Spain was still asleep, drugged with the fumes of prescribed 
ignorance and dictated intolerance. 

It is not held that this was truly the condition of Spain so late as up to 
1855-61; but that this is substantially the picture of it that is to be found 
in many of the most authoritative and latest works of reference now 
extant in our language on the subject. 

The following view of Spain was written during the reign of Ferdi- 
nand YII — about forty or fifty years ago (Macgregor, 994) : 

" Exclusive of about a fourth of the population, composed of persons 
living on their property without doing anything, Spain, according to the 
census of 1797, contained 100,000 individuals existing as smugglers, rob- 
bers, pirates and assassins, escaped from prisons or garrisons ; about 
40,000 officers appointed to capture these, and having an understanding 
with them ; nearly 300,000 servants, of whom more than 100,000 were 
unemployed, and left to their shifts ; 60,000 students, most of whom 
begged or rather extorted charity at night, on the pretence of buying 
books, and if to this melancholy list we add 100,000 beggars, fed by 60,- 
000 monks at the doors of their convents, we shall find that at the period 
referred to, there existed in Spain nearly 600,000 who were of no use 
whatever in agricultural or the mechanical arts, and who were only calcu- 
lated to prove dangerous to society. Lastly, having made these and other 
necessary deductions, we find that there remained 964,571 day laborers, 
917,197 peasants, 310,739 artizans and manufacturers, and 34,399 mer- 
chants, to sustain by their productive exertions 11,000,000 of inhabitants. 
These results which, mutatis mutnndis, are applicable at the present day 
as at the time when they were deducted, exhibit a state of society so 
radically corrupt and debased as to render all hopes of its regeneration 
very nearly desperate." 

Said M'Culloch, writing in 1844 : " Owing to vicious institutions, bad 
government and other causes, Spain has, for a lengthened period, con- 
tinued stationary or made little progress, while other nations have 
advanced with giant steps in the career of improvement." 



3 



Said Macgregor, in 1850 : "The government of Spain can scarcely be 
considered less despotic thau Russia or Turkey;" and he goes on to 
speak of "the backward state of agriculture in Spain, the indolence of 
the rural population, the great numbers who are otherwise employed than 
in husbandry, and the preference given to pastoral occupation over that 
of tillage," etc.* 

Appleton's Cyclopedia, which is dated 1864, though it notices the 
beginnings of a recently developed appearance of progress in Spain, 
states that agriculture there is still in its infancy, notices the continuance 
of the Meata and other institutions of the Middle Ages, and chronicles 
the then recent conservative reaction typified by the restoration to the 
Church of all the lands that had not been sold.f 

In brief, the picture of Spain, which is obtained from the usual works 
of reference on the subject, depended upon, or accessible to, the Ameri- 
c m student, is that of a Spain still sleeping the sleep of the centmies. 

But this picture is incorrect. Since the date of these works, or of the 
information which they contain, Spain has made, what is for her, enor- 
mous progress. From absolutism to constitutionalism was for her but a 
single jump, and not like France in 1789 through a Reign of Terror, but 
by the progressive step 5 of an orderly and deliberate revolution. This 

* The following tables, though obviously imperfect, may nevertheless afford an indi- 
cation of the backward social condition of Spain previous to recent changes : 

Drones in Spain. 

Year 1787. Year 1826. Year 1857. 

Classes of Drones. Macg-egor. p. 994, Macgregor, p. 944, Martin, etc. 

and M 'Culloch, 840. and M'Culloch, 840. 

Smugglers, etc 100,000 100,000 

Custom Officers 40,000 40,000 27,922 

Domestic Servants 300,000 276,000 206,090 

Student Beggars 60,000 47,312 

Beggars 100,000 36.000 

Monks . 61,617 61,727 

Nuns 32,500 24.007 

Other Ecclesiastical 81,803 85,735 

Vagabonds 140,000 

Inquisitors 2,705 ) 



Officers ot Inquisition. 



22,000 



Wandering Convicts 2,000 

Army and Navy 500,000 100,000 241,335 

Nobility 350,000 478,716 

The classification involves questions of opinion and taste in which I am far from 
agreeing with the writers from whom I quote. 

The following table, from various authorities, shows the ecclesiastical population of 
Spain at various dates : 

Year. Number. Year. Number. 

1787 188,625 1857 125,000 

1803 203,298 1862 39,885 

1833 175,574 1870 

Without feeling at all certain of the accuracy of these numbers, I think it safe to con- 
clude that since 1855 the porportion of ecclesiastics in Spain has very materially 
decreased. 

f These lands were again taken from the Church and sold, the Church receiving an 
equivalent for them in money. During the subsequent civil war this payment was 
stopped. Upon the recent accession of Alfonso XII, it was resumed. The substantial 
point of the whole history is that the people haye got the lands and no reaction can 
deprive them of them. 



4 



revolutior, like its predecessor in the same country of half a century 
before, may have gone too far and subjected itself to the evils of a con- 
servative reaction which in time will destroy all its good effects, but this 
is not believed to be the case. During the late years preceding and dur- 
ing its republican government, the Spanish nation so thoroughly destroyed 
the power of the bigots, so utterly abolished feudal institutions, so 
scattered to the winds the privileges of castes and monopolies and so 
clinched and riveted these reforms by the educational institutions and 
agencies of material progress which it created, that for it to go back to 
the dark ages of twenty years ago is simply impossible. Several millions 
of people in Spain have learned to read during the past fifteen or twenty 
years; several thousand miles of railways have been built; several mil- 
lions of acres of additional land brought under cultivation. These are 
works of progress that cannot be undone. Spain is like an inert mass 
suddenly hurled into the illimitable space of action; she must go on now 
forever. * 

In endeavoring to portray the recent progress of Spain, I shall confine 
myself in this paper chiefly, though not entirely, to the important topic 
of agriculture, and the sub-topics more immediately connected with that 
greatest of all industries. This is done not only because progress in Spain 
means, and must, for some ages yet, mean, necessarily and above all 
things, progress in agriculture; but also because it is upon this subject 
that current works of reference on Spain are most deficient. 

Natural Resources, Climate, etc. 
Of this once most foremost country of the world, it may be said briefly 
that nature gave her every original resource and man destroyed them all. 
Situate in the temperate and tropical zones, watered by two oceans, and 
penetrated by no less than 230 rivers, nearly one-half of her soil still lies 
barren, for the want of moisture denied her by the destruction of her 
forests. The average fall of rain during the year is stated to be " 19.45 
inches, while the average heat is 65° 42 ; Fahrenheit, even in winter only 
falling to 56° 54' and in summer ascending to 99°." IT. S. Com. Rel., 
1868, p. 373. 

In Alicante and many other provinces it seldom rains at all. When it 
does, the floods are often very destructive. In November, 1864, an extra- 
ordinary inundation took place in the province of Valencia, causing the 
river Ircar to overflow its banks, partially destroying the town of Alcira, 
and inflicting damage to the amount of over two million dollars (Br. C. 
R. 1865, p. 73). Spain is essentially a country of mountain ridges and ele- 

* " Don Jose" Sanchez de Bazan gave me some highly interesting accounts of recent 
Spanish progress, and the state of affairs in his country. There were three thousand miles 
of railways in Spain ; over twelve million passengers were annually carried upon them; 
there were seven thousand miles of telegraph, filteen thousand miles of common roads, 
etc. The Constitution guaranteed complete civil and religious liberty ; the priests 
were banished ; the press was free, and Spain would soon once more lift up her head 
among the nations."— A Summer Tour in 1872, by Alex. Delmar. Appleton's Journal : 
New York, November, 1873. 



5 



vated plateaux, the former being filled with mineral riches, the latter once 
the scene of immense agricultural productions. 

Moneys, Weights and Measures. 
Previous to July 19, 1849, the weights and measures of Spain differed 
in every province*, though those of New Castile, the province in which 
the capital of the country is situated^ were the ones generally employed 
in works relating to the entire country. The following table shows the 
principal moneys and principal weights and measures in use previous 
to the establishment of the metrical system : 

Moneys, Weights and Measures — Old System. 



1 Escudo, equal to (exchange value, about) $0.50 U. S. Gold, 

1 Real de Plata, " . .10 " " 

1 Real de Vellon, " 05 " " 

1 Arroba of wine, " 4.268 gallons. ) , 

1 Arroba of oil, " 3.323 " ^ T 

1 Aranzada,, ...... 1.105 acres. ) 

1 Fanegada, " 1591 " > } 

1 Fanega, il 1.55 bush. } 

1 Libra, " 1.0144 lbs. avoir. § 



There is also a land measure used in Valencia, and perhaps elsewhere, 
called the han.egada, equal to 0.2062 acres. The eahiz is equal to 12 
fanegas, or 18.6 bushels. 

Moneys, Weights and Measures — New System. 

Although the metrical system was established throughout the entire 
kingdom of Spain by the law of July 19, 1849, the old metrology con- 
tinued to be employed in Spanish works so late as 1859, and sometimes 
it is still used. Under the present system Spanish names are given to 
the French moneys, weights and measures. The franc is called tu« 
peseta; the metre, metro; the litre, litre, etc. The equivalents of these 
terms are well known. 

The reform effected by the adoption of the metrical system in Spain, 
though insignificant when compared with the far more essential reforms 
which will presently be alluded to, is nevertheless not altogether unim- 

* For a fall account of Spanish provincial metrology see book of Instructions to Spanish 
Consuls., a work to be found in the hands of the various Spanish consular officials 
throughout the world. ' 

f Yon Baumhauer. 

% The best authorities for these equivalents are : 1. The Official Instructions to Span- 
ish Consuls ^ and 2. The able paper of M. Von Baumhauer, published in the Report of 
the Seventh International Statistical Congress, vol. 3, p. 173. These authorities agree 
substantially as to the Castilian Aranzada and Fanegada. The Spanish work estab- 
lishes the Aranzada at 4471.92644 metres; M. Von Baumhauer says 44.71918 ares. The 
Spanish work fixes the Fanegada, at 6439.574075 metres; M. Von Baumhauer says 
64.39553 ares. But when it comes to the Fanega they differ. The Spanish work sets it 
down at 55 101055 litres ; while M. Von Baumhauer says 55.50123 litres. Other authori- 
ties differ from both of these. Deeming the Spanish official publication the highest 
authority on the subjeet, I have adopted the equivalents therein established as being 
the most correct. The American equivalents of the metrical weights and measures are 
from the invaluable little work of Dr. B. F. Craig, of Washington, D< C, which corrects 
the errors of the British Assay Office. 

§ Von Baumhauer. 



6 



portant ; for it rendered possible intercommunication and commercial 
dealings between the various provinces of Spain which, under the old sys- 
tem, were almost impossible. There were arrobas and fanegas and fane- 
gadas in all the provinces, but no two were of like value, and they differed 
enormously. The fanegada, which contained 576 estadales carres in Cas- 
tile, contained from 100 to 625 in the other provinces, and the aranzada, 
which contained 400 in Castile, contained from 300 to 600 elsewhere. 
(Von Baumhauer.) With an illiterate populatioD, such a diversity of 
terms was tantamount to an almost entire prohibition of intercourse 
between the provinces. 

Total Area of Country. 
In the Spanish statistical tables, Spain is usually meant to embrace the 
Balearic and Canary Isles. The following table gives the total superflces: 





KILOMETRES 
CARRES. 


MILES. 


ACRES. 




494,946 


190,257 


121,764,480 




4,817 


1,852 


1,185,280 




7,273 


2,796 


1,789,440 


Total 


507,036 


194,905 


124 739,200 



Cultivated Area at Yartous Dates. 

I have before me nine different accounts of the cultivated area of 
Spain at four different periods, viz. : 1. The account of Miguel Gzorio y 
Red in, who wrote in the last half of the seventeenth century; 2. The 
official returns for the year 1803; 3. An account from the Junta de Medios, 
concerning the divisions of land in 1803; 4. A statement laid before the 
Cortes in 1808; and 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, various accounts relative to the 
divisions of land from the year 1857 to the present time. Of these 
accounts the earlier ones have generally been treated by English writers 
as more or less fanciful ; on the contrary, I believe them, when 
rightly understood, to be more or less correct. Confusion of the terms, 
"productive land," "cultivable land,*' "cultivated land,'* "arable 
laud," " area sown in grain," and " area in which grain is sown," as well 
as error in the translation of "fanegadas" and "fanegas" being suf- 
ficient to account for their apparent discrepancies. 

Selecting the second one, as perhaps the most reliable, we have the 
following divisions of Spain proper for the year 1803: 



DIVISIONS OP LANDS 1803. 


SQUARE LEAGUES. 


ACRES. 




4,310 


27,627,100 




11,658 


74,727,780 




1,580 


10,127,800 




1,342 


8,602,220 


Total 


18,890 


121,084,900 



7 



I deem the following to be the most reliable one relative to any late 
year preceding the period of resent progress: 



DIVISIONS OF LA.ND IN 1857. 



ACHES. 



Land sown in grain, potatoes, beans and peas, roots, vege- 
tables, commercial crops, fallow land, grass land under 
rotation, chestnut groves, orchards and gardens 

Vineyards 

Olive grounds 

Meadows and pastures 

Mountainous lands 

Sites, mines and quarries 



32,210,071 
2,906,783 
2,122,780 
16,926,028 
10,832,730 
3,586,247 



Total productive land. 



Forests 

Barren and waste ; also lakes, rivers, roads, etc. 



68,584,589 

6,885,600 
49,269,011 



Grand total ! 124,739,200 

Comparing the two accounts, so far as their different classifications 
will enable a comparison to be made, we have the following results: 



Division op Land. 



Cultivated and fallow 

Forests 

Copses 

Mountains 

Rivers 

Sites, etc 

Meadows and pastures. 
Barren, waste, etc 



1803. 
Spain Proper. 

ACRES. 



27,627,100 
10,127,800 



M,727,7£ 



1857. 

Spain and the Isles. 

ACRES. 



37,239,584 
6, c 85, 600 



GrAIN OR LOSS. 

ACRES. 



G. 9,612,484 
!- Loss. 



10,832,830 ) 
Inc. in "Barren." i > Unchanged 
3,586,247 ) 
16,926,028 Unchanged. 
49,269,011 Loss. 



Total 



121,084,900! 



124,739,200 



Beyond the essential point that nearly ten million of acres were added 
to the cultivated lands, it can only be stated roughly that the forest 
lands of Spain, which, so far as concerns the period under review, were 
never extensive, slightly diminished ; the pasture lands (properly speak- 
ing, there were few or no meadows in Spain), remained unchanged, 
and the common and waste lands diminished, by being brought partly 
under cultivation. 

Irrigation. 

Of the above mentioned 37,239,584 acres of cultivated land, 2,857,648 
acres were irrigated as follows: 



Divisions of Irrigated Land. 



Arable land . . . 

Vineyards 

Olive grounds 
Other 



Total 



Fanegadas, 
Each of 1.60 Acres. 



1,370,090 
67,374 
74,618 
273,970 



A CRES. 



2,192,144 
107,755 
119,389 
438,360 



1,786,025 



2,857,648 



8 



Land Sown in Grain and Potatoes. 
Of the 32,210,071 acres of land devoted to grain and other products, or 
in fallow, the following portions were sown in grain and potatoes only: 

Wbeat 7,311,892 acres. 

Barley 3,182,100 " 

Rye 2,961,863 " 

Maize and other grain 1,351,687 " 

Potatoes 509,503 " 

Total 15,316,865 " 

The divisions of land in 1874 are estimated as follows: 



Divisions of Land in 1874. 



Cultivated and fallow : 

Arable land, i.e., land sown in various crops, fallow land, 
grass under rotation, groves, orchards and gardens 

Vineyards 

Olive grounds 

Meadows and pastures 

Mountainous land 

Sites, mines and quarries 

Forests 

Barren, waste, public and water surfaces 



Total 124,739,200 



Acres. 



40,000,000 
3,000,000 
2,000,000 

17,000,000 

10,800,000 
3,700,000 
6,800,000 

41,439,200 



The cultivated and fallow lands, which amounted to less than 28,000,000 
acres in 1803, and about 37,000,000 acres in 1857, now amount to 45,000,000 
acres; showing as great progress during the seventeen years from 1857 to 
1874 as occurred in the fifty-four years from 1803 to 1857. According to 
this measure, progress has been tUrice as rapid during recent years as it 
was previously. 

Population. 

According to Martin, Spain, in the time of Julius Caesar, contained a 
population of 78,000,000; according to a Spanish author quoted in the 
U. S. Com. Rel., 1865, p. 169, she had 68,000,000; according to Appleton's 
Cyclopedia she had 40,000,000. I place no reliance whatever on these con- 
jectures. Seaman's Progress of Nations, p. 551, also contains a series of 
conjectures on the subject which are certainly wrong or fallacious. The 
earliest authentic account of the population of Spain, dates about five 
centuries ago, when under the Moors, she was stated to have contained 
21,700,000 inhabitants. This account — from the number and opulence 
of her towns, the works of improvement executed and which still remain, 
the breadth of land cultivated, the number of houses, workshops, artisans, 
etc., all of which are known with reference to many localities, — this 
account I believe to be substantially correct. 

Through the expulsion of the Moors, who were the agriculturists, and 
the Jews, who were the manufacturers and merchants of Spain, this vast 
population, which, in my opinion, is the greatest the soil of Spain ever 



9 



supported, gradually dwindled down to about 7,600,000 inhabitants in 
1723. From the last named period it has very slowly increased to some- 
what over 17,000,000 at the present time.* 

The following table exhibits the data on this interesting subject, 
together with such remarks as I have deemed were necessary to be made 
and the authorities from whom I have quoted. I have indicated the 
figures which I consider incongruous by placing them in brackets. 
Population of Spain at Various Periods. 

(The figures in brackets do not appear to agree with the others.) 



Population 



Authority. 



Remarks. 



21.000 
21,700. 

8,206 
[9,000, 

7.500. 
[8,000 
[8.00D. 

7,625, 
[5.423. 

9.307. 

9.301, 

9,307. 
10,143. 
10.761. 
10.541. 
[12;000. 
10.351. 
10,351, 
11.000. 
11.248, 
11.248, 
12.000 
[13.712 
[13,953 

[13.69J 
12,08" 
12.3S( 

[14.660. 
12.232. 
12^168, 
12.222, 
12,054. 
12,166. 
13^05, 

[10.942. 
14.957. 

[15,807, 
15.460. 
15.673, 
15,867, 
16.043, 
16.180. 

[15.752; 
16.302, 
16,378, 
16.526, 
16.656. 
16 732. 

[16,090. 
16.800. 
16,935, 
17.000, 
17.100. 
17.200, 
17,300 



.000 
000 

,791 
000] 
000 
000] 
000] 
000 
0U0] 
800 
728 
0C0 
000 
485 
000 I 
000] 
000 j 
075 
000 
000 
026 
000 
000] 
957] 

.000] 
,991 
,841 

000] 
194 
774 
872 
000 
774 
500 
28U] 
575 
753] 
000 
481 
304 
703 
183 
607] 
148 
481 
474 I 
879 I 
052 
550] 
000 
613 
000 
000 
000 
000 



Rep. Br. Sec. Leg., 1866 (Quoted from Spanish author 

Castile 11,060,000. Arragon 7,000,-! 

000 and Grenada 3.000,000 ! 

Rep. Br. Sec. Leg., 1866. \ 

Cevallos Quoted by Macgregor. 

Ustariez ! Quoted bv Macgregor. 

U. S. Com. Rel., 1S65 j 

Macgregor At death of Charles II. 

" From an official census. 

" Excludes nobility and clergy 

Com. Rel., 1865 \ 

Macgregor .Includes Canaries and Afri- 

" can settlements. 

" Excludes Canary Isles. 

Com. Rel., 1865 Includes Canaries, etc. 

Appleton's Cyc | 

Com. Rel., 1865 ! 

Macgregor [Census. Spain proper. 

U. S. Census. 1850, p. xxxiv Spain and Balearic Isles. 

Com. Rel., 1865 

Macgregor Census, Spain proper. 

U. S. Census. 1850 " 

Com. Rel., 1865 1 

Macgregor iCadastral ret'ns, Spain pro'r 

" Cadastral ret'rn, Spain and 

Balearic. 

Com. Rel., 1865 iMartin says 13,698,029. 

Ency. Amer., vol. 14 ! Official. Excludes Balearic. . 

Aim. de Gotha, 1850 Official. Includes Balearic 

and Canary Isles. 

Macgregor Estimated. 

U. S. Census, 1850 1 "From Guibert. 

" I From M'Culloch. 

Martin I 

" i 

" includes isles. 

Aim. de Gotba !Spain proper. 

Br. Rep. Sec. Leg [Incorrect. 

Aim de Gotha :Spain proper. 

Martin 'Spain proper. Details given. 

Estimate. 

Rep. 7th Inter. Stat. Cong., vol. 3. . M 

" " " " " I Tlie enumeration dates 

<k " " " " j [Dec. 31 in each year. 
" «' " J 

Br. Sta t For. Coun j Spain proper. 

Rep. 7th Inter. Stat. Cong. vol. 3..h 

" " " " " L Tne enumeration dates 

" 1 (Dec. 31 in each year. 

M. S. 21-41-2-349. ... 
Br. Stat. For. Coun. 

Estimate 

Br. Stat. For. Coun. 
Estimate 



Spain proper. 
Spain proper. 

Spain proper, census returns. 
Spain proper. 
'Spain proper, 
j Spain proper, 
j Spain proper. 



* It is believed by some writers that the population of Spain again retrograded subse- 



10 



This is a most instructive table. 

First. It shows an extraordinary decrement of the population of Spain 
from about the beginning of the fifteenth century until after the beginning 
of the eighteenth. This is attributed chiefly to the Moorish and Jewish exo- 
dus which commenced to take place in the year 1492, the same year in which 
that New W orld was discovered in which eventually so many of the exiles 
found both homes and religious liberty. From first to last it is supposed 
that no less than 300,000 Moorish and 300,000 Jewish* families, or nearly 
three millions of intelligent and industrious people were driven from Spain, 
and amidst the most shocking cruelties. These, together with the num- 
bers who fled after the conquest of Grenada and the colonists to America, 
contributed to reduce the population from nearly 22,000,000 in the four- 
teenth century to little more than 7,000,000 in the seventeenth. Notwith- 
standing the persecution of the Moors and Jews, it is stated that consid- 
erable numbers remained in Spain, professing, if not believing, in the 
doctrines of the Church, and forming the bulk of the agricultural and 
industrial classes in many localities. This is affirmed by Macgregor and 
denied by Buckle, but I think the weight of evidence is with the former. 
M'Culloch, p. 845, says there were 60,000 Moriscoes in Grenada in his 
time, about the year 1840. 

Evidence of the large population that dwelt in Spain under the Moorish 
regime is found in a class of facts, of which the following are examples: 

"Before the Conquest in 1487 (the city of) Grenada had 70,000 houses 
and 400,000 inhabitants, 60,000 of whom were armed. It was defended 
by ramparts flanked by 1030 towers and two vast fortresses, each of which 
could receive in garrison 40,000 men. 

"The kingdom (of Grenada) of which it is the capital, was only thirty 
leagues in breadth by seventy in length, but it contained thirty-two large 
cities and ninety-seven towns and 3,000,000 of inhabitants. The whole 
population at present does not exceed 83,000. 

"The city of Cordova under the Moors occupied nearly eight leagues 
of the banks of the Guadalquiver, and contained 600 grand mosques, 3,837 
small mosques or chapels, 4,320 minauts or towers, 900 public baths, 28 
superbs, 80,455 shops, 213,070 dwelling-housss, 60,300 hotels or palaces." 
Moreau de Jonnes, 1834. 

"The last official census states that 1,511 towns and villages were then 
totally uninhabited and abandoned. " Macgregor, 1850. 

For further evidence on this point, consult Buckle's Hist. Civ., Draper's 
Hist. Civ. and Civil Policy of America. 

Second. The table of population shows a very slow increment from the 

quent to the year 1830. This opinion is probably based on the cadastral returns of 
1826, or thereabouts, and the smaller numbers of the census returns of 1833. It may be 
well-founded; but I have ventured to disregard it in arranging the figures of the text. 

* This is the highest estimate. Buckle, who quotes a number of authors, states that 
the number of Jews actually expelled is differently estimated at from 160,000 to 800,000. 
—Hist. Civ., ii, 15. 



11 



beginning- of the seventeenth century to about the year 1850. The popu- 
lation is stated to have been 7,500,000 in the year 1618 and 13,705,500 in 
1849. This is an increase of but 82.7 per cent, in 231 years! 

Third. The table shows a comparatively rapid increment of population 
since about the year 1850, to-wit: from 13,705,500 in 1849 to about 17,300,- 
000 in 1874, an increase of 26.2 per cent, in 25 years. This is the period 
of recent progress in Spain to which attention has been directed, and it 
is believed no better proof can be adduced in support of this allegation 
of progress than the rapid increment of population which, in spite of 
foreign and civil wars, has taken place. 

Rural and Civic Population. 

The cadastral returns of 1826 gave the rural population at 80.4; the 
civic at 18.5, and the ecclesiastical at 1.1 per cent, of the whole. The 
proportion of rural population therein shown is probably correct at the 
present time. 

Agricultural Population. 

Spanish statistics, at least as they reach compilers outside of Spain, are 
proverbially incomplete, contradictory and obscure, and they are no less 
so on this simple subject than on any other which I have found it neces- 
sary to examine. The agricultural population of a country but half 
cultivated, and that portion but indifferently tilled — a country, which, as 
a rule, has forbidden the importation of breadstuffs, while it had none to 
export ; which is neither a pastoral nor a new country ; and in which the 
struggle for subsistence is so great that a local and temporary drought is 
enough to stimulate what is else a constant but sluggish stream of emi- 
gration to other countries — ought to be uncommonly large. On the con- 
trary, my information states it to be comparatively small. If the latest 
figures before me are corrrct, the agricultural population of Spain is but 
55 per cent, of the whole ; whereas I am confident it is not less than 65 
to 70 per cent. The following is the statement : 

Occupations op the Population op Spain, 1857. 



Non-Agricultural Male Adults. 



Army, Navy and Military functionaries 

Officials : State 22,362 

Municipal 62,976 

Provincial 4,693 

Nobility 

Clergy 

Students 47,312 

Advocates 5,673 

Writers 9,351 



12 



Non-Agricultural Male Adults. 



Number. 



Servants 

Merchants 

Scientific 

Artists and mechanics. 
Manufacturers 



206,090 
119,234 
35,736 
88,728 
67,327 
32,201 
9,945 
39,440 
11,285 
16,181 
21,606 



Miners, (1864) 

Workmen in refining and smelting works, (1864) 

Fishermen, 1866 

Seamen in ports, harbors, etc., 1863 



foreign trade, 1863 



coasting trade, 1863, 



Total 



1,645,191 



Total able-bodied men, 3,803,991. This would leave, at the most, but 
2,158,800 agriculturists. At an average of four inhabitants to each able- 
bodied man, this would imply, at the most, an agricultural population of 
8,632,000, which is 55 per cent, of the whole. Add to the 2,158,800 male 
adult agriculturists about 340,000 female laborers, and we have in round 
numbers 2,500,009 persons actually employed in agriculture. This num- 
ber forms less than 16 per cent, of the whole, a proportion that, taking 
into consideration the rude state of tillage in vogue, would seem entirely 
inadequate to produce the requisite amount of food for all. 

Macgregor (p. 944) publishes the details of a cadastral return of the 
population for 1826, concerning the correctness of the total sum of which 
there is perhaps some doubt. The total figure is 13,712,000, while the 
total of the table of details is but 13,211,301. In this table the agricul- 
tural population is placed at 1,836,320 heads of families and others, and 
6,777,140 women and children, the first-named figure being 13.9 per cent, 
of the whole and the latter 65.2 per cent. The details of heads of agri- 
cultural families and others are as follows : Proprietors, 364,514 ; farmers 
(middle men), 527,423 ; laborers, 805,235 ; proprietors of herds and flocks, 
25,530; and shepherds, 113,628. 

I acn inclined to believe these proportions to be nearer the truth, and 
the truth at the present time, than those deduced above. 

The discrepancies have doubtless arisen less from any material changes 
in the occupations of the people than from the fact that in many districts 
the agricultural laborer often alters his trade during the year ; so that 
the agreement of two censuses would depend largely upon the time of 
the year they were taken respectively. (See on this point, L. T., 24, § 9.) 



In Galiaia and Asturias the number of female laborers is nearly equal 
to the male. These districts comprise about one-fifth of the population. 
In Carthagena, province of Murcia, population 380,969, female labor is 
seldom or never employed for field work. In Minorca female labor is 
employed hardly at all. In Majorca it is employed. Female laborers are 



Female Laborers. 



13 



employed, but not generally, in Guipuzcoa, Basque Provinces, population 
102,547. Id Biscay, Basque Provinces, population 200,000, all the females 
work in the fields at times, and female labor is largely employed. In the 
Provinces of Malaga, Granada, Almeria, and Jaen, population 1,565,979, 
female labor is hardly at all employed in the cultivation of land, only in 
gathering olives and cutting grapes. From these and other reports (Land 
Tenures, Part III), I have ventured to estimate the number of female 
laborers in Spain at about 340,000, though I dare say the true number is 
upwards of 500,000. 

Land Tenures. 

The laws of 1820 abolished the right of primogeniture and all other 
species of civic entail (inayorazgos) ; then followed that of 1841 on ecclesias- 
tical benefices, and finally that of 1855, which declared in a state of sale land 
and house property belonging to the State or appertaining to corporations 
of towns, beneficence, public instruction, clergy, religious fraternities, 
pious works, sanctuaries, etc. Like many other reforms which have 
taken place from time to time in Spain, certain provisions of this one 
were rescinded, and it was not until 1865 that the Crown lands were finally 
decreed in a state of sale. It is, however, from the year 1855 that the 
freedom of Spain from religious and feudal tenures really dates. 

When it is considered that these tenures were abolished in France by 
the Revolution of 1789, in the United States, generally, during the ear- 
liest days of their history as independent Commonwealths, and in Prus- 
sia in 1820, it cannot be deemed strange that a country which did not 
succeed in throwing them off until 1855 should have failed to show any 
signs of progress until within very recent years. 

The condition of affairs in 1840 is thus described : 

"Mr. Townsend (ii, 238) mentions that the estates of three great lords 
— the Dukes of Osuna, Alba, and Medina Cceli — cover nearly the whole 
of the immense Province of Andalusia ; and several in the other prov- 
inces are hardly less extensive." M'Culloch, p. 837. 

''The great estates belonging to the corporations, or towns, are held in 
common ; and in consequence are wholly, or almost wholly, in pasture." 
—Ibid. 

In 1850, we have the following account : 

"Among the causes of the defective state of agriculture in Spain are 
the tenures of land. The unalienable, indivisible inayorazgos (entails) are 
considered as having for a long period comprised, including the property 
of the Church, about three-fourths of the territorial surface of Spain. 

"The Mesta is another great, although secondary, cause of the neglect 
of agriculture. This is the name of a great incorporated company of 
nobles, ecclesiastical chapters, persons in power and members of monas- 
teries, who were authorized to feed their flocks, at scarcely any expense, on 
all the pastures of the kingdom, and have almost an imperative special code 
of laws (Leyes y Ordenenzas de la Mesta) for maintaining their originally 
usurped privileges. It holds its courts and has numerous Alcaldes, 



14 



Entregadors, Quadrilliers, Acliagueros, and other law officers. Within 
the last five years, the Mesta has possessed about half of the sheep in 
Spain." Macgregor, p. 1016. 

For lists of the religious establishments and the enormous properties 
and revenues they absorbed, see pp. 1023-5 of the same work. 

As to the condition of affairs at the present time, the bulk of agricul- 
tural lands in Spain appear to be still held by wealthy or noble proprie- 
tors, who live in the cities and lease them out on half produce, a la meta, 
to indigent peasants. Feudal tenures are indeed swept away, but many 
of the features of feudality remain, and it is still the custom in Alicante 
and perhaps elsewhere, for the metayers to present the proprietors with 
a certain number of fowls each year. The custom is now voluntary and 
by no means relished by the owner, who feels bound to make some 
return ; but it serves to indicate the relations between the metayer and 
his landlord. The metayers on rice plantations in Valencia pay one-third 
produce. Certain rights of commonage appear to continue. (L. T., 40, 
§ 7.) In Galicia, the "foro " is mentioned so late as September 30, 1870. 
(Com. Rel., 1871, p. 1008.) The " foro" is a sort of land impost created 
some eight or nine centuries ago, and continues to be paid annually by 
the present owners to the descendants of the former proprietors of 
land. " The importance of this tribute is such that it sometimes absorbs 
the total productions of the soil ; thus it is that two-thirds of it has never 
been cultivated." (Ibid.?) In October, 1873 (Com. Rel., 1873, p. 946), it is 
stated that the feudal tribute of "foro" had been declared redeemable 
by the Government. 

In fine, Spain may be said to have scarcely even yet emerged from the 
feudal state. A large portion of her soil is still owned by absentee land- 
lords and rented, partly for money rents and partly a la meta. The pro- 
prietors seldom sell their properties (L. T., 42, § 10), and there is no 
compulsion on their part to sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of their 
property to peasants or others. (L. T., 49, §§ 6-7-8.) But as the law of 
descent and division is the same that applies to personal property {Ibid, 
43, § 2) , it is merely a question of time when they will be divided and 
absorbed by peasant proprietors. 

Another drawback is the allodial duty of two per cent, on the sale of 
lands. (L. T., 31.) There is a government duty of three per cent, on all 
transfers of property (p. 47, § 13). Whether the allodial duty of two 
per cent, is added to this, does not seem clear. 

But the great fact remains that the feudal system and all entails are 
abolished ; the lands of the religious establishments and the Crown* are 
sold, the corvee and the mesta swept out of existence, small peasant 
properties exist in large numbers all over the country, and the door is 
opened to further reform and future progress. 

* In 1866 laws were also passed to facilitate the sale of mountainous lands, 



15 



Laws of Succession. 
Land may now be willed as the owner chooses provided he has no 
children. In case he has, these are his natural heirs, and the division is 
in equal paits. He can, however, dispose of one-fifth thereof in favor of 
his widow, or some particular child, or even of a stranger. Should the 
property have increased in value since the marriage day of the owner, his 
widow has a right to the half of the increase (L. T., 19). While this is 
stated to be the law of Spain, the same authority speaks of the existence 
(Dec. 7, 1870) of separate codes of law affecting real estate in different 
provinces. (See pp. 40 and 43.) But this I doubt. The law of descent 
seems now to be general throughout the land, and to have teen based on 
Novela cxviii of the Roman laws of Justinian. 

Mortmain. 

The abolition of mortmain (law of desamortizaciori) took place in 1855, 
but many persons refused to buy church property on account of religious 
scruples. In 1858 the Pope's sanction was obtained, when the sales were 
actively continued, the Government giving great facilities to the pur- 
chasers. The payments are made one-tenth in cash and the remainder in 
promissory notes running from one to ten, and in some cases, nineteen 
years, and secured by mortgage on the property. Owing to these facili- 
ties of purchase the biddings have often more than twice exceeded the 
true market value of the parcels put up. The churches, etc, receive com- 
pensation for their lands thus sold, and the nation gains by the operation, 
what benefit accrues from throwing open lands to peasant ownership and 
industrious tillage, which had been either entirely sequestered or negli- 
gently worked by metayer tenants subject to the church. About $100, 000, - 
000 have been paid (in Government stock) to these institutions for their 
lands, and about $200,000,000 (in cash and mortgages) received from the 
purchasers. The total payments (for the operation has not yet quite ceased) 
are estimated at $125,000,000, and total revenues at $250,000,000 ; so that 
the Government will have made $125,000,000 by the law of mortmain. The 
interest on the payments to the religious establishments, which were 
made in Government securities, was stopped during the Republic, but an 
order for its resumption was among the first acts of Alfonso XII upon his 
accession to the throne of Spain in January, 1875. 

Registry System. 
" The sale or transfer of property (land) of every sort is always (now) 
done by deeds drawn up by a notary and inscribed in the Land Register. 
Leases of smaller importance are made by contract before witnesses. A 
tax of two per cent, is paid to the State in cases where property is held 
(hired ?) or transferred ; but where a son inherits directly from his 
father, or vice versa, ho succession duty is paid. It exists, however, when 
the inheritance is from any more distant relative and increases propor- 
tionately." Beport of Percy Ffrencli, First Sec. H. B. M. Legation in 
Spain. L. T., 18. 



16 



Property is still administered and managed in Spain with great disorder 
and negligence, and extreme irregularity exists in the registration of 
leases, etc. This is probably due to the heavy registration, succession and 
other fees, and attempts to avoid them by neglecting proper formalities. 
Stamped paper must be used ; only a feed notary can draw the papers, 
and fees attend every step of registration, search or certification. The 
average cost of transfer is about one and a-half per cent, ad valorem. 
(L. T., p. 44). In other respects the registry system, which has only 
been in force since 1863, appears to be similar to that which has always 
existed in the United States. 

Hypothecation of Real Estate. 

The very recent abolition of feudal and ecclesiastical tenures, the con- 
tinued monopolization of the land by the wealthy (L. T., p. — ), the new- 
ness, the exactions and disorder of the registry system, together with 
other causes, combine to render difficult the hypothecation of real estate. 
In cases where these obstacles do not exist, where the title is undoubted 
and the land held in fee, there is no difficulty in obtaining loans to the 
extent of one-third to two-thirds the value of the property, at six to ten 
per cent, per annum. But in most cases it is the landless metayer who 
desires to borrow ard has nothing to offer as security but his growing 
crops. Upon such a precarious basis, ten to fifteen per cent, is a low rate 
to charge for interest, and often from thirty to forty per cent, is paid. 
(L. T., 18). With the means thus obtained numerous small holdings of 
mountain land (common land sold by Government under act of 1866) 
have been purchased by the peasantry on seven year annual installments 
(p. 30). This points to an extension of the same sort of spade culture 
which is to be seen in the hilly parts of Italy, and to the abandonment of 
the better but metayer-held lands "of the nobility — a tendency that should 
not exist. 

Positos. 

u Positos " are described by Macgregor as a sort of co-operative society 
to supply seed corn and food in calamitous years, numbers of which have 
existed all over Spain since the time of Philip II. M'Culloch, however, 
defines them to be merely public granaries where corn may be ware- 
housed until it is disposed of. The name, which means "depositories," 
proves this definition to be the correct one. They have diminished in 
importance of late years, probably because the fears of occasional 
scarcity, which, no doubt gave rise to them, have been removed by the 
construction of roads and railways and a more liberal policy in respect of 
the corn laws. The peasants and dealers in grain in Castile formerly 
preserved their stocks in silos, or subterranean caves, for sometimes five 
or six years. 

Mesta. 

As has already been explained, Mesta was a right of common which 
certain privileged classes possessed, but which is now abolished. It is 



17 



said to have originated in the fourteenth century during a famine. This 
right enabled the privileged owners of large flocks of sheep to drive them 
over village pastures and commons there to feed at pleasure, and to com- 
pel the owners of cultivated lands, which lay in the line of their migra- 
tions, to leave wide paths for the pasturage of the flocks. Nor could any 
new enclosures be made in the line of their march, or land that had once 
been in pasture be cultivated again until it had been offered to the Mesta, 
or corporation of flock-proprietors, at a certain rate ! It is easy to per- 
ceive that with the continuance of such monstrous privileges as these it 
would only be a question of time when all the cultivated lands would be 
turned into pastures, and all the pastures fall into the possession of the 
Mesta. It was a great reproach to Spain that this feudal privilege existed 
so long as it did, but its recent abolition is equally an undoubted sign of" 
progress. 

Number and Size of Farms. 

The number of farms in Spain in the year 1800 was but 677,520 in the 
hands of 273,760 proprietors and 403,760 tenant farmers. (Martin.) 
The number of landed properties, rural and urban, in 1857, was 2,433,301 
(L. T., 46), and the number in 1870 was 3,612,000. (Ibid, 19.) The pro- 
portion of rural properties in late years is not stated by these authori- 
ties, nor are the tenures by which they are held set forth. The number 
of tenant farmers had increased from 403,760 in 1800 to 595,635 in 1857, 
and probably upwards of 600,000 in 1870 ; but meanwhile and particu- 
larly since 1855 the number of properties had increased, both by the 
subdivision of land and the industrial absorption of mortmain and Gov- 
ernment lands and village commons. The bulk of the peasant farms will 
average between ten and fifteen acres. There are many vineyards of not 
over one-eighth of an acre, and on the other hand, many large properties, 
cultivated and uncultivated. The opinion appears to prevail among late 
observers that from one-fourth to one-third of the cultivated land is held 
by peasant proprietors (L. T., 50 and ?), and that the rest is cultivated by 
agricultural laborers, l of whom there were 2,354,110 in 1857, in the employ 
of large owners, or farmed out to tenants for a money rent, or a la meta. 

System of Cultube — Seeding and Fertilizers. 

Compared with other countries west of Russia and the Orient, the sys- 
tem of culture in Spain is still very backward. There are a few garden 
spots in Spain — the huertas of Granada, Murcia, and Valencia — but such 
exceptional instances of careful culture are to be found in the worst cul- 
tivated countries, even miserable Egypt possessing a Faioum. The gen- 
* eral aspect of Spanish agriculture, until very lately, was much the same 
as it was a century ago when Arthur Young visited Spain. The great 
and numerous barrens he described are being brought under cultivation, 
and in that respect Spain is much improved ; but the mode of cultivation 
is only now undergoing change. The forests were, centuries ago, burned 
for the few fertilizing materials to be obtained from their ashes, while 



18 



their annual efforts to increase were kept down by a similar treatment of 
their undergrowth and copses. Hence, barrens, afflicted with alternate 
droughts and floods. The system of agricultural irrigation was mainly 
a legacy from the exiled Moors, since whose time it had been but little 
enlarged. The means used for raising the water are the familiar sakye 
and shadouf of the Orient, the sakye being known under the name of 
noria. (L. T., 57.) The water obtained by these laborious means is 
known as agua de arte ; that by diverting the course of streams as agua 
viva, or running water. (C. R., 1868, p. 373.) 

As going still further to show the indebtedness of even Modern Spain 
to Moorish industry, it has been stated that the best olive trees in Spain 
to-day are those left by the Moors ; while even the stone fences and other 
enclosures left by them are still performing the service for which they 
were constructed a thousand years ago. 

Rotation was, until recently, very little followed in Spain, and even the 
fallow system, though in general use, was in many parts ignored and the 
ruinous one of exploitation, by a constant succession of the same sort of 
crops, employed in its place. (C. R., 1871, p. 1037.) Even two and some- 
times three different crops were obtained from the same piece of ground 
in one year ; though as Young and other writers have shown, with no 
aggregate increase of product, but on the contrary, diminution. Corn, 
root, or pulse crops were frequently sown in olive groves and vineyards to 
the mutual detriment of both tree or vine and crop. In the Provinces of 
Malaga, Granada, Almeria and Jaen, mention is made of a three-field 
system of, 1. Wheat, barley or beans ; 2. Fallow ; 3. Pasture on the un- 
irrigated lands ; and also of the continuance, so late as November, 1869, 
of village commons (dehesas de proprios) for cattle, — both of them wretched 
and antiquated features of agriculture. But since 1855 all these features 
have been undergoing change, and the dehesas de proprios were probably 
in a moribund state in 1869. 

The quantity of seed used is uncertain. It is stated by M'Culloch that the 
fanega (about 1^ bushels) is the measure of seed-corn commonly sown upon 
a fanegada (about 1£ acres) of land, and hence, the similarity of terms. 
This is probably a true explanation with regard to the terms, which must, 
however, have arisen from the results of favorable sowings ; for the prac- 
tical fact is still that not less than two bushels are generally sown to the 
acre of wheat, the staple corn of Spain. 

In the use of fertilizers the same recent improvement is to be observed 
as in other respects. Previous to 1855, beyond the fertilizers mentioned 
by Arthur Young nearly three-fourths of a century before, there does not 
appear to have been any improvement. These consisted of wood-ashes 
obtained from the burning, not of forests, for they had been burned long 
before, but of copses and undergrowth. Near some of the large cities 
poudrette seems to have been prepared, but the use of this fertilizer was 
not common. 

Since the ameliorations, which date about the year 1855, Peruvian 



19 



guano appears to have been largely imported into Spain. I have the 
statistics by quantities for only the years 1852 to 1856 and 1863 to 1867, 
inclusive ; but these will serve to sh:>w the extent of the movement, 
which first began iu 1852: 



Imports of Peruvian Guano into Spain. 


Years. 


Kilograms. 


Tons. 


1852 to 1856, inclusive 


49,115,446 
39,514,969 
6, 437,943 
11,956,769 
46,872,576 
37,666,000 


48,247* 
39,209 
6,324 
11,746 
46,043 
37,000 


1864 


1865 


1866 


1867 





To show the relation which these quantities bear to the world's con- 
sumption of guano, it may be stated that the 48,000 tons imported in 
1852 to 1856 formed but 2% per cent, of the world's consumption of 
Peruvian guano ; while the average annual quantity of 28,000 tons im- 
ported during the years 1863 to 1867 formed 7^ per cent, of the world's 
consumption, which was 370,000 tons per annum during that interval. 
(For details of the consumption of each country, see Com. Rel., 1867,. 
p. 361.)+ 

The extent to which fertilizers are now being used in at least some 
parts of Spain, may be judged from the fact that the U. S. Consul at 
Valencia reported in 1871 that the ground in that district was being- 
burned up by an immoderate use of guano ! 

Agricultural Implements. 

There seems to have been no improvement in respect of agricultural 
implements since the days of Arthur Young. The corvee is abolished, 
and the absentee laudlords of vast estates, of whom he has so bitterly 
complained, are things of the past ; but the old Roman plow, with its 
wooden mould-board, without a bit of iron upon it (Arthur Young, ii, 
p. — ), and its four or five inch blade (Com. Rel., 1871, p. 1037,) remain. 
Indeed, even the plow is rarely met with in some provinces (C. R , 1866.. 
219), the "laya," or two-pronged fork, and the spade being used in its 
place (L. T., 37 and 51). 

Until within a very few years, agricultural machinery was wholly 
unknown in Spain. The corn was left in the fields for lack of barns 
(Young) ; it was threshed by driving mules over it ; it was winnowed by 
throwing it iu the air (M'Culloch) ; and most frequently it was ground 
by hand rather than by wind-mills or other machinery. {Ibid.) 

* Quantities exported from Chincha Islands to Spain, 1852-57.— App. Cyc, via, 529. 

f The average annual consumption by the United States before the war is set down 
by this authority at 40,000 tons ; while the actual imports into the United States from 
185o to 1861, inclusive, were 954,989 tons, an annual average of double the quantity. 
However, a portion of this gaano came from other places beside Peru. For complete 
statistics on this subject, see U. S. Com and Nav., 1857, p. xlvi. 



20 



Fanning machines are now in use near the towns ; the thresher has 
been introduced ; and the first American mower and reaper was imported 
a year or two ago. 

English implements are too heavy for Spanish hands (L. T., 29), and 
many that have been imported are left to rot for want of men able to 
handle them. The American implements are much preferred. 

On the whole, it may be stated that Spain is but on the threshold of a 
change from the inefficient implements of antiquity to the powerful 
machines of modern agricultural progress. 



Since the destruction of her forests Spain must have lost much of the 
pastoral character which undoubtedly distinguished her to a great degree 
under the rule of the Moors. There are now, properly speaking, no 
meadows (grass lands) in Spain. Young noticed a single patch during 
his journey in 1787 ; but late observers do not speak of any at all. (L. 
T., 28, and elsewhere.) 

Said M'Culloch, ab >ut forty years ago : 

"The Pyrenees, the hilly parts of Biscay and the Asturias, the vast 
plains of Andalusia, the two Castiles, Estramadura and Leon, are almost 
wholly in pasture ; and in some parts the traveler may journey for many 
miles without seeing either a house or an individual. In point of fact, 
however, half the pastures really consist of heaths, or of neglected tracts 
covered with thyme and other wild herbs, that are at present next to 
worthless. There are few or no irrigated meadows, and hay is seldom or 
never prepared for fodder." 

Except that portions of this waste land have of late years been reclaimed, 
;this description will answer for to-day. 

The following table exhibits a comparison of the number of domestic 
;animals in Spain in 1808 and 1865, respectively, from which it will be 
seen that there has been a small increase of horses, a considerable increase 
of mules and asses, a decrease of horned cattle, sheep and goats, and an 
increase of swine. 

It should be stated that a great many incomplete and incorrect state- 
ments on this subject have appeared in statistical works. 

The authorities for the figures given in the text are, for 1808, the report 
to the Cortes quoted by Macgregor, and for 1865 the report of Senores 
Feliciano Herreros de Tejada and Victoriano Ballaguer to the Statistical 
Congress of the Hague. 



Domestic Animals. 



Domestic Animals. 



Year 1808. 



Year 1865. 



Horses 

Mules and asses . 
Horned cattle. . . . 
Sheep and lambs 

Pigs 

Goats 

Camels 

Poultry 



533,926 
1,079,002 
3,694,156 
24,916,212 
3,628,283 
6,916,890 



680,373 
2,319,846 
2,967,303 
22,468,969 
4,351,736 
4,531,228 



No data. 



3,104 
No data. 



21 



Iii some p trts of Spain there are no inclosures (fences), and cattle can- 
not be kept with ait injury to the crops (L. T., 2b). Of late years a new 
and considerable trade has sprung up between Spain and England, con- 
sisting of exports of horned cattle and of eggs from the former to the 
latter. The following table shows the development of this trade since I860 : 

Quantities of Animal Products Imported from Spain Proper 
into the United Kingdom Annually since 1860. 



Calendar 
Year. 


Horned Cattle. 
Number. 


Eggs. 
Great Hund'ds 


Calendar 
Year. 


Horned Cattle. Eggs. 

Number. Great Hund'ds 


1860 


3,573 
8,596 
6.787 
6,566 
8,281 
8,209 
8,490 




1867 . . . 


13,816 93.064 
15,985 i 116,895 
19,589 96,131 
27,271 112,638 
19,612 184,114 
15,462 151,296 
19.888 I 151,561 


1861 

1862 , . 
1863. 
1864. . . 


123,842 
139,628 - 

78,818 

54,465 

31,328 

80.055 i 


1868 

1869 .... 

1870 , ... 
1871 


1865. . . 
1866 


1872 , . 
11873 



Chief Articles of National Diet. 

The Spanish peasantry is even to-day but wretchedly fed; what it 
starved upon in the long and terrible ages of Ecclesiastical domination 
and feudal tyranny, defies all sober description. (On the general subject 
of peasant wretchedness in the Middle Ages, see The Earth as Modified 
by Man, by Marsh; New York, 1874, pp. 5-7, the foot notes.) 

The usual fare is bread, porridge and pulse. Chestnuts and other mast 
also form articles of diet in the few wooded districts which the country 
possesses. (L. T., 24.) 

The following accounts relate to the years 1869 and 1870 : In Guipuzcoa, 
the nurture is beans, cabbages, milk, chestnuts, and Indian corn cakes in 
place of bread. Meat is scarcely known; occasionally a small piece of 
bacon is attainable. (L. T.,38.) In Biscay, the fool is "puchero," a vege- 
table soup composed principally of cabbage anl beans. Lard is occasion- 
ally added, and sometimes even a scrap of meat or dried codfish. {Ibid, 
40.) The beverage in Asturias and Guipuzcoa is cider; in Biscay, it 
was " chacoli," a thin mixture of wine and water. Of late years this is 
becoming replaced by the common wine of Navarra, etc. In Majorca, 
the diet is vegetables and bread. {Ibid, 32.) In Minorca, it is potatoes. 
{Ibid, 35.) In Alicante, it consists of a pottage of rice, beans and oil, 
with barley or maize bread, and occasionally a little codfish or sardine ;. 
but butcher meat is seldom enjoyed. {Ibid, 51.) In Valencia, the usual 
food is, at morning, a pilchard (salted) and bread ; at noon, a stew of 
beans and potatoes, with pieces of bacon ; and at night, the same as at 
morning or noon. These articles of diet are usually supplemented with 
thin wine and sometimes fruit. {Ibid, p. 54, and private information.) In 
Galicia and Asturias, the food is potatoes and vegetable soup, condimented 
with lard; also bread of rye or maize ; sometimes a piece of pork. {Ibid, 
20.) In Andalusia, corn bread ; seldom meat. {Ibid, 49.) 



22 



Effectiveness of Labor. 

In Galicia and Asturias a good workman is expected to plow about 
one-fifth of an acre per diem. (L. T. , 20.) One laborer only is required to 
every six acres yearly. {Ibid, 24.) One man with two horses or mules can 
plow in two days six fanegadas or 1.237 acres, equal to about five-eighths 
of an acre per day. (L. T., 53.) Consult also pp. 28 and 50 for similar, 
though less definite statements. 

This extraordinary degree of inefficiency is not the result of indolence, 
All writers, from Arthur Young to the present time, agree in giving the 
Spanish peasantry the credit for untiring industry and perseverance. It 
is rather the product of weak and insufficient food and lack of comfort. 
(See Arthur Helps on Brassey.) 

Condition of the Peasantry. 

Galicia and Asturias, 1870. Their houses of rough stone — mostly con- 
sisting solely of the ground floor — are poor and dirty, the same roof fre- 
quently giving shelter to the proprietor's family and to the produce of 
his farm, including his oxen, cows, pigs and fowls. Some of the better 
conditioned of the same class construct with wood an upper story to their 
houses, which serves for their dwelling and granary, in which case the 
lower part is occupied entirely by the live stock. (L. T., 20.) 

Majorca, 1870. Their houses are wanting in accommodations. Their 
food is frugal ; their dress modest. (Ibid, 32.) 

Minorca, 1870 Their cottages are of a cleanness that is remarkable, 
being whitewashed inside and outside twice a month. Their clothing, 
bedding, etc , are also very clean. Their habits are moral and religious. 
All disputes settled by arbitration. (Ibid, 32.) 

Guipuzcoa, 1870. They are badly housed aud have none of the com- 
f >rts of the English. The kitchen is black, dirty and full of smoke 
They dress in home-spun flax. (Ibid, 38.) 

Alicante, 1870. They are clothed in the linen shirt and short, wide 
trousers of their Moorish ancestors. (L. T., 51.) 

Valencia, 1870. The peasants live in small stone or brick houses of one 
story, and in mud huts with thatched roofs. Their donkeys and pigs 
occupy a shed at the back of the house ; bat all pass through one door. 
(L. T., 53.) 

Biscay, 1870. They are housed in stone buildings with no comfort and 
scarcely decency. Stables for oxen and pigs on the ground floor ; 
sleeping apartment above. Results : dirt, discomfort and fever. Home- 
spun clotl.es, the men cloth, the women cotton and flannel from abroad. 
Habits thrifty. The tentnt farms descend regularly from father to son 
by force of custom. (L. T., 41.) 

Andalusia, 1870. The great mass of the country population are hired 
labjrers. The Spanish peasantry are generally poorly housed, fed and 
clad. The country is still insecure, and abductions for ransom by 



23 

banditti are not unfrequent. {Ibid, 45.) The British Consul at Cadiz, 
under date of February 15, 1865, says : 

"Property and life are much more secure throughout the country than 
they were twenty years ago. Robberies are very much more rare ; the 
police, and especially the rural police {gens cVarrnes) in the provinces, are 
in general respectable officials, and are becoming useful and effective. 
In numerous small towns (I speak of Andalusia especially) they are 
active, earnest and conscientious local magistrates, quietly doing a great 
deal of good." (B. C. R, 1865, 96.) 

The travelers' guide-books of recent dates, which are pretty good 
authority on the subject of personal security, agree in stating that 
brigandage and all molestation on the highways have wholly ceased. This 
happy result is attributed indirectly to the general improvement of affairs 
in Spain, and directly to the guar dm civiles, a body of police or gens 
d'armes, selected from the veteran corps in the armies, and composed of 
men noted for high moral traits and physical pre-eminence. 

Concerning the tendency of thought among the peasants, it is stated 
that : 

"Socialistic and communistic doctrines are spoken and spread in 
Andalusia where the peasantry, though very bigoted, are argumentative 
and of an independent turn of mind. If ever Protestantism, in some 
shape or other, be put before the Andalusian, it will spread like wildfire, 
for it exactly suits his mode of thought." (L. T., p. — .) Socialism is gain- 
ing ground among the laboring classes of Andalusia. {Ibid, p. 51.) "Spain 
has a peasantry superior to that of most European countries ; but no 
middle class." — London Economist, January 5, 1867. 

The military conscription, which is compulsory in Spain, is perhaps, 
the most oppressive institution against which the peasant has now to 
struggle. 

Illiteracy and Education. 



The following table shows the condition of the population of all Spain 
in these respects in the year 1860 : 



Classes. 


Males. 


Females. 


Total. 


Number . 


P. c. 


Number. 


P. c. 


Number. 


P. c. 


Able to read and write. 

Able to read only 

Not able to read or write 

Total 


2,414,015 
316,557 
5,034,936 


15.4 
2.1 
32.1 


715,906 
389,221 
6,802,846 


4.6 
2.4 
43.4 


. 3,129,921 
705,778 
11,837,782 


20.0 
4.5 
75.5 

100.0 


7,765,508 


49.6 7,907,973 


50.4 


15,673,481 



Owing to the ecclesiastical policy popular education showed no per- 
ceptible progress in Spain until about the year 1868, since which time it 
has made considerable strides. {A. G. Fuertes, IT. JS. Consul at Corunna, 
October 1, 1873.) 



24 



In 1797 only 393,126 children attended the primary schools of Spain 
and these were very imperfect. 

Up to 1808 public education was entirely in the hands of the eccle- 
siastics. 

Until 1838 there was scarcely any progress. 

In 1848 the number of pupils attending all the schools was (563,711. 

On January 1, 1861, the number was 1,046,558, as follows: Private 
schools, superior, elementary and mixed, 3,800 with 134,383 scholars; 
public schools, same classes, 18,260, with 912,175 scholars. — Martin. 

It is believed that since 1861 the number of pupils has fully doubled. 
For a summary of the extremely liberal provisions for public education 
since 1861, consult U. 8. Rep. Com. Education, 1871, p. 477. 

Wages. 

Years 1787-89. (Arthur Young.) Wages near Esparagara, spinners, six 
cents a day ; carders, eleven cents ; lace-makers, nine cents and food. 
Near Gerona, laborers twenty cents, without food. Near Barcelona, 
laborers, twenty-five cents a day, without food ; highest, thirty-three 
cents, lowest, twenty-two and a-half cents. 

Year 1864. (Com. Rel., 1865.) Wages in Bilboa, day laborer, 20c.@25c; 
mechanics, 40c.@45c, without food. 

Year 1864. (Com. Rel., 1865.) Since 1854, a notable rise in wages in 
Bilboa: Day laborers now, 55c@70c. ; mechanics, 95c.@fl.25 without 
food. 

Years 1869 to 1871. (Land Tenures, pp. 20, 24, 32, 38, 40, 45, 51 and 53. 
Com. Rel., 1871, p, 1010.) The following table gives the wages current 
in various provinces of Spain : 

Daily Wages of Agricultural Laborers, without Food, 1870-1. 



Provinces. 



Galicia and Asturias. 

Asturias , 

Majorca 

Minorca 

Guipuzcoa 

Biscay 

Andalusia 

Ilicante 

" spade work... 

Valencia 

Murcia 

Spain generally * 




Women. 



14 @ 20 cents. 
. . ($ 20 " 
10 (4 15 " 



16 @ 20 
20 ($ 25 



10 @ 15 



* This last and probably unreliable line is from the O. R., 1871, p. 1010. The same 
authority quotes mechanics' wages throughout Spain at 40@75 cents per day, which 
is undoubtedly below the truth. It states the working hours in summer at fourteen, 
and in winter ten, which is probably correct. 



25 



Daily Agricultural Wages, with Food, 1870-1. 



Asturias 

Majorca 

Minorca 

' ' harvest, long hours. 

Guipuzcoa * 

Biscay* 

Andalusia 

Murcia 



Men. 




"Women. 



07 
05 



Boys. 



05 @ 06 
03 @ 04 



From these tables it would appear that in some places probably 
throughout Spain, wages continued, from the close of the last century to 
about the year 1855, without material change ; but that since the last 
named date they have doubled. Whether this is due to the great 
ameliorations set on foot at that time in Spain, or to other causes cannot 
be determined in this place. 

Emigration. 

During the years 1840 and 1841, at least 20,000 agricultural laborers 
left Valencia for Algiers. (Macgregor, 1015.) The immigration into the 
Argentine Republic (Buenos Ayres), which up to year 1862 was less 
than 7,000 persons a year, rose to between 10.000, and 12,000 persons in 
1863 and 1864, and to over 40,000 persons in 1870. About 15 per cent, of 
of these persons in 1864 and 1870 were from Spain. (Private information.) 
There are now nearly forty agricultural colonies in the Republic. Of 
these, twenty have been formed since 1870. Many of the agriculturists 
are from Spain, The immigration of Spaniards into the United States, 
from 1820 up to and including 1870, was 23,504, and since 1870 has been 
as follows : 

1871 558 1873 546 

1872 595 1874, about 500 

Large numbers of Spanish emigrants go to Cuba and South America, 
whence a few afterwards find their way to this country. In 1870, there 
were 3, 764 natives of Spain residing in the United States. 

I know of no statistics which show the total emigration outward from 
Spain, but it must be considerable. In Galicia and Asturias it is reckoned 
at 60,000 to 70,000 per annum, or 2| per cent, of the population. (L. T., 
20) . One half of those from Asturias go to Spanish colonies. (Ibid, 
24.) From Murcia 1,000 persons a month during six months of the sum- 
mer and fall of 1869, went to Oran, coast of Africa. (Ibid, 28.) In the 
Balearic Isles emigration is not common, and the military conscription the 
principal cause. (Ibid, 32.) From Guipuzcoa there is a considerable 
emigration mainly to South America. The emigrants go chiefly by way 
of France. Cause, want of work. (Ibid, 38, 39.) From Biscay a large 

* Gurjuzcoa ; boys $20@$30 a year, with iood and lodging. Biscay, $15 a year, same. 



26 



emigration, which has been gradually increasing during the past fifteen 
years, occurs to South America, chiefly to Buenos Ayres and Montevideo. 
The local government has not been able to restrain this drain of popula- 
tion. {Ibid, 40.) From Andalusia emigration is rare, chiefly from Almeria 
and only in years of great drought. {Ibid, 45.) From Alicante, in years 
of drought the emigration to Africa is considerable. Many return when 
the weather (and, I suppose, their fortunes) improve. In good years they 
do not emigrate. {Ibid, 51.) The Valencians rarely emigrate. From the 
towns on the coast they frequently go over to Algiers and Oran for the 
harvest, and afterwards return home. {Ibid, 53.) The army and navy 
in the West Indies, and especially Cuba, constitute a regular drain upon 
the population by robbing it of its most energetic elements. 

The American Cousul at Corunna, under date of September 30th, 1870, 
says that 140,000 emigrants have left that district (in Galicia), for South 
America and Cuba within a few years, and that 4,000 to 5,000 more bound 
to the same ports sail yearly from Corunna. "The agents at this port are 
always willing to offer them passage, to be paid in small installments. 
Repeated applications have been addressed to this Consulate regarding 
the emigration to the United States. The applicants are generally all 
handsome and remarkably healthy young men, nsed from their infancy to 
farming and field labor, as well as to mechanical pursuits and are withal 
of an excellent moral conduct and pleasant disposition, but as they are 
too poor to pay for their passage, I could offer no inducements to them." 
The same Consul writes in 1873, that he had induced a Liverpool shipping 
house to send some steamers to Corunna for the United States, and that 
they had arrived and taken out to New Orleans a large batch of respecta- 
ble young field laborers. 

Piiices and Rents of Land. 

It is almost impossible to make anything out of the fragmentary and 
loose evidence on this point contained in Arthur Young and Land Ten- 
ures, the best authorities for the latter half of the last and present centu- 
ries, respectively. Roughly speaking, arable land seems to be worth at 
the present time from $70 to $125 an acre, and in the huertas of Valencia 
as high as $500 to $1,000 an acre, the latter price being quite common. 
Rents range from 3 to 3^ per cent, on the value of the property (L. T., 
41), and are stated to be on all the lands in Spain, including, I suppose, 
the barrens, from $2 to $4 an acre (L. T., 18), and on the irrigated huer- 
tas of Valencia, $20 to $35 {Ibid,) the common rate being about $30 an 
acre. (L. T., p. 54.) 

These prices and rents do not appear to differ materially from those 
quoted by Arthur Young, nearly a century before. (See Young, ii, p. 
326 and elsewhere.) 

I take it that, at the rents quoted above, the tenants pay the taxes; yet 
as the following passage occurs in Land Tenures, p. 56, relating to 
Valencia, this point does not seem certain : 



27 



"The taxes on landed property are for account of the landlord, and if 
the Government taxes the land, for a larger sum than it really produces, 
then the landlord pays only to the extent of the rent and the surplus is 
paid hy the tenant and is denominated as colonization." Spoliation were 
a better name. 



Transfer and succession duties on land have already been adverted to. 
Although there is some discrepancy in the accounts, all agree in repre- 
senting these dues as exceedingly onerous. 

" The cost of registration is, in the first place, a Government transfer 
duty of 3 per cent, on the price in cases of sale or barter ; 10 per cent, in 
cases of donation inter vivos (during life), and from 1 to 10 per cent, on 
successions, according to the nearer or remoter degree of relationship be- 
tween the deceased proprietors and the heirs ; inheritance from ascendant 
to descendant is free of duty, and on a lagacy to very distant relations or 
to mere friends, being strangers in blood, the duty is 10 per cent. The 
Registrar's fee varies according to the length of the deed inscribed, but 
it never exceeds 3 per mil (3 cents on §10) on the price or value of the 
property." (L. T., 44.) 

Such heavy taxes and fees would seem to amount virtually, to a prohi- 
bition on the sale of land and must have very injurious effects upon agri- 
culture. 

The taxes levied in Spain are general, provincial and municipal. 
(Com Rel., 1856, p. 56.) 

The municipal taxes consist partly of octroi duties. For example, in 
Bilboa and possibly all over the country, the octroi duties are : ale 2 cents 
per pound ; brandy, 4 cents per pound] oil, 20 cents per arroba of 28 
pounds; salt, 30 cents per fanega of 110 pounds, beside others. (Com. 
Rel., 1865, p. 190.) The Galicians are taxed on almost everything they 
possess in the way of property: land, labor, food and raiment. (Com. 
Rel., 1871, p. 1008.) 

Similar charges are exacted in Cadiz and on foreign products which 
have paid duty as well as on domestic. (Com. Rel., 1866, p. 222.) 

Heavy taxes are also spoken of in Valencia. (L. T., 54, § 13.) 

The General Government levies export duties (Com. Rel., 1873, p.; 961) 
also import duties, direct taxes on land, mines, industries, commerce, 
mortgages, excise, tolls, stamps, railway passengers, and miscellaneous. 
It derives revenues from the following monopolies : tobacco, salt, gun- 
powder, lotteries, mints, military establishments, post office and miscel- 
laneous, and from the following domains : mines, property of the State, 
clergy and provinces, besides a revenue from the colonies. The total 
annual revenues of the General Government during the period 1865-70 
were estimated in the budgets at between $107,000,000 and $138,000,000 
per annum. This would amount to an average of about $7 per Capita of 
population. 

If the provincial and local taxes be added to these, the total bur- 



Taxes. 




28 



den of taxation would be exceedingly onerous — especially when the 
industrial condition and efficiency of the country, as compared with 
other countries at the same period, is taken into consideration. 

" The direct tax on real property, on agricultural produce and on cattle, 
has, during the last twenty years, nearly doubled, throughout the whole 
of Spain. 

1846 to 1848, it amounted to $12,500,000. 

1849 to 1855, " " 15,000,000. 

1856 to 1857, " " 17,500,000. 

1858 to 1863, " " 20,000,000. 

1864 to 1866, " " 21,500,000. 

The same tax levied by the local authorities throughout Spain, for 
provincial and municipal purposes, has risen, during the same period, 
from $1,750,000 to $4,434,585." (Br. Con. Rep. 1866-5, p. 375.) 

Interest. 

In the year 1545, Charles the Fifth fixed the legal rate of interest in 
Spain and the Low Countries at 12 per cent. (J5F. Y. Social Science Review, 
1865, pp. 362-3.) From that time until toward the close of the last cen- 
tury, the market rate of interest in Spain continued to fall, not so much 
from increased profits or security as from an increasing absence of oppor- 
tunities for the investment of capital. This is proved by the fact that 
while generally the market rate of interest fell, the rate on Government 
securities rose. 

At the time of Arthur Young's travels the market rate on landed se- 
curity in Catalonia was 8 to 10 per cent. 

Since that time the usury laws have been entirely abolished, and now 
interest is left free to be determined by the contracting parties. (L. T., 24.) 

The prevailing rates on landed security about the year 1870 were from 
4 to 5 per cent, per annum in Biscay and the Balearic Isles, the two 
extremities of Spain (L. T., 31, 37, 40), to 10 or 12 per cent, in Murcia. 
{Ibid, 28.) In the rest of the provinces, and Spain generally, it appears 
to be from 6 to 10 per cent. {Ibid, 18, 20, 24, 44, 50, 53.) 

On the security of growing crops, or personal security the rates are 
most frequently 30 to 40 per cent., though of course they vary with the 
degree of risk in each case. {Ibid, 18, 24, 44.) 

According to the quotations of the Madrid Bourse, at the close of the 
year 1874, Government securities were at prices that yielded interest at 
the rate of from 12 to 20 per cent, per annum. 

Code op Law — Credit — Debt — Executions. 

"The habits, customs, laws, have accumulated from the earliest ages, 
— Gothic, Christian, Jewish and Moorish, — forming an inextricable web 
which no legislator has attempted to unravel. Codification has been often 
talked of, and even attempted, and as yet produced nothing. The conse- 
quence is that most Spanish proprietors are perpetually involved in law 



29 



suits, which are lost and won, and lost again, going from one province to 
another and appealing to different courts and tribunals, one after the 
other." H. B. 31. Sec. of Leg. Percy Ffrench, Madrid, December 7, 1870. 
(L. T., 19.) 

For organization of courts of law and proceedings on judgments and 
evictions, see L. T., 26. 

There are no special courts of bankruptcy. {Ibid.) " No questions are 
submitted to jury." {Ibid.) 

Agricultural banks on the German plan have been tried but failed. (L. 
T., 55.) The system of legal procedure against debtors is the great draw- 
back to credit based upon land. Even lending money upon mortgage is 
dangerous. (L. T., 44 and 47.) In many places money on land is only to 
be had on a sale a retro, or a remore (L. T., 47), which seems to be a sale 
with power of redemption. 

The laws give the landlord to whom rent or allowances for deteriora 
tions are due, a preference over other creditors to the extent of the cattle, 
household effects and other moveables found upon the property (L. T., 
26, 34, 38 and 48) ; but not the mules, horses, plows, or carts ; which 
appear to be exempt from execution. {Ibid, 51.) 

A custom is said to exist in Valencia which is peculiar, and as it may be 
common elsewhere in Spain, and has a bearing on the tenure of land and 
security, credit and interest, I insert an account of it here : 

''When an eviction occurs (generally a rare thing in the agricultural 
parts of Spain), if the landlord d>es not pay the colonist or tenant the 
value of the buildings (erected by the latter), the tenant pulls them down 
and carries away the materials ; this, however, rarely happens." (L. 
T., 56.) 

Common Roads. 

"Owing to the badness of the roads and their unfitness for carriages, 
the principal carriers of merchandise are the arieros, or muleteers, who 
traverse the country in all directions along beaten tracks, many of which 
are accessible only to them. * * * Three-fourths of the entire inland 
traffic in corn is carried on by their means. Recently, however, wagons 
have begun to be introduced." (M'Culloch, 11, 839.) 

This was the condition of affairs described in 1844. 

Under date of July 1, 1865, the British Secretary of Legation, at Mad- 
rid, wrote as follows : 

"Even the few main roads (common roads) which exist, are insuffi- 
ciently provided with bridges, and it is not an uncommon sight to see 
eighty or ninety "carros" or country carts laden with agricultural pro- 
duce, detained on the banks of a flooded river until able to ford, some- 
times for three or four days. * * * Fifty years ago the in- 
ternal communication was entirely carried on by means of mules, and 
few, if any roads existed." {Br. Bep. Sec. Leg. 1866, p. 184.) 



30 



Common Roads in 1860. 



First class , 
Second " 
Third " 

Total 



Kilometres. 


Mjles. 


9,097 


5,640 


1,550 


961 


629 


390 


11,276 


6,991 



"Also in course of construction 4,276 kilometres or 2,651 miles. 
Amount expended on roads in 1861 and 1862, $14,735,829." {Ibid.) 

Since the conclusion of the civil war, the Government has constructed 
upwards of 10,000 miles of turnpike roads, exclusive of Biscay, where the 
roads have been built by the local authorities. (Br. Con. Rep. 1865, p. 83.) 

A better view of the progress that has taken place is afforded by the 
following : 

Table Showing the Length and Condition of the Yarious Classes 
of Common Roads in Spain in the Year 1867. 



Classes. 


Kilometres. 


Miles. 




7,339 


4,550 




9,566 


5,931 


Third < < " 


17,766 


11,015 




4,540 


2,815 


Total 


39,212 


24,311 



Of the above roads 12,342 miles were built, 2,087 miles in course of 
construction, and 9,882 miles projected in 1867. (Br. Stat. F. C. xii, 292.) 



Canals and Slack- Water Navigation. 

Since the destruction of the Spanish forests, such of the rivers of Spain 
as were navigable before, were rendered unnavigable. Of these only the 
Tagus and Guadalquiver had been rendered partly navigable up to the 
year 1844. (M'Culloch.) 

In 1871, owing to recent improvements in the river channel, vessels 
drawing from 16 to 18 feet of water could ascend the Guadalquiver to 
Seville. (C. R. 71, 1028.) 

I have no other advices with respect to the progress of slack-water 
navigation in Spain. Of the canals of Spain, glowing accounts in general 
terms are to be found in many descriptions of the country {e.g. Appleton's 
Cyc, xiv, 805, Old Ed.), but I cannot find sufficient basis for them. 
There appear to be but three canals of. any importance in Spain, and the 
aggregate mileage of the three is not over 300. These are 1. The Ebro 
Canal, in Arragon, from Tudela to Santiago, 41 miles below Saragossa. 
It was built in the reigns of Charles IK, IY and Y, is about 85 miles long 
and is navigable by barges, and used also for irrigating purposes. 2. The 
canal in Old Castile from Segovia, past Yalladolid and Palencia, to 
Aguilar del Campo, and thence to the Bay of Biscay, with a way branch 



31 



to Rio Seco and another to Bourgos ; commenced in the year 1753. 3. The 
Urgel Canal in the Gerona district of Catalonia. These canals are also 
navigable for barges. I do not find any other navigable canals of import- 
ance, and to say that the aggregate navigable canals of Spain are less 
than 500 miles in length would probably be largely within the truth. 

Railways. 

The following is a tolerably complete list of all the railways in Spain 
at the close of the year 1872, omitting branches and turn-outs : 



Railways. 



Miles 
Opened. 



* Madrid to Saragossa and Madrid to Alicante I 885 

* Saragossa, Pamplona and Barcelona 385 

* Barcelona to France via Figueras . i 109 

* Northwestern Railway, Palencia, and Corunna, Palencia; 

and Leon via Gijon 158 

* Medina del Campo to Zamora and Orense to Vigo 

(Medina to Zamora finished ; Zamora to Orense not| 

begun ; Orense to Vigo unfinished) | 56 

* Cordova to Seville j 81 

Seville to Cadiz about { 80 

Branch to Moron about 20 

* Cordova to Malaga j ~i 

Branch to Antequera | v 184 

Branch Loja to Granada \j 

* Lerrida to Reus and Tarragona. 50 

* Aranjuez to Cuenca, 80 miles unfinished I .... 

* Aranjuez to Toledo 25 

* Santiago, 27 miles unfinished .... 

* Urgel Canal Railway 33 

* East Coast Railway, Aim ansa f to Valencia and Tarra- 

gona I 255 

Tarragona to Barcelona . ! 80 

Madrid to Avela 40 miles, Avela to Medina del Campo 50 

miles, Medina to Palencia 50 miles, about j 140 

Cordova to Alcazar (on Madrid and Alicante Railway),: 

about | 100 

Badajos to Manzanares (on last named Railway), (this 

line connects with Lisbon, Portugal), about 250 

Palencia to Burgos and Miranda, about j 100 

Bilboa, Miranda and Saragossa, about j 150 

Palencia and Santander, about 100 

Barcelona and Gerona, about j 60 

Granollers to Junction with last named Railway, about j 25 

Barcelona and Reus, about 80 

Miranda, Vitoria, Pamplona and Alfara, about | 100 

San Sebastian to Fuentarabia, about 20 

San Sebastian, Guipuzcoa and Alsasua, about -50 

Cartagena, Murcia and Chinchilla, about 150 

Cordova to Belmez 45 



Total miles opened . 



* Subsidized by Government. 

t I.e., from near Almansa on the Madrid and Alicante Railway. 



,771 



32 



The first railway, 15^ miles in length, was opened in 1848 from Barce- 
lona to Mataro on the line now completed from Barcelona to Gerona. 
The following table shows the progress made from time to time since 
that year : 



Close of the Year. 

1848 

1850 

1856 

1857 

1858 

1859 

1860 

1861 



Miles 
Opened. 


Close of the Year. 


Miles 
Opened. 


15^ 


1862 


1,694 


17 


1863 


2,208 


326 


1864 


2,525 


418 


1865 


2,982 


529 


1866 


3,184 


713^ 


1870 


3,380 


1,191 


1872 


3,711 


1,475 


1874 


4,100 



From this table it will be observed that from 1848 to 1860, inclusive, a 
period of thirteen years, hardly 1,100 miles of railway were con- 
structed in Spain ; while from 1860 to 1874, inclusive, a period of fifteen 
years, nearly 3,000 miles were opened. 

The area of Spain proper is 190,257 square miles, and of California 
183,981 square miles. At the close of the year 1873 there were 1,368 
miles of railway constructed in California ; so that Spain with about the 
same area had nearly three times the railway mileage of California. 

Beside the above there are many other roads in course of construction; 
for example : One from Seville to Lisbon via Merida and Baclajos, the 
distance from Seville to Badajos, which is on the Portuguese border, 
being some 150 miles. (C. R., 1871, 1029.) One from Cordova to Bel- 
mez, 45 miles. {Ibid.) Opened in 1873. (C. R., 1873, 959.) 

Concerning the roads which form the line between Madrid and the 
French frontier, the American Counsel at Bilboa, wrote in 1864 to the U. 
S. State Department, as follows : 

"The Great Northern Railway, Lima del Norte, was opened (asa 
through line) on the 20th of August, 1864, for passengers and merchan- 
dise, from Madrid to Irun, on the French Frontier, where it connects 
with the railway to Paris. The line has been operated through Castile 
and other sections, for a considerable period; but the heavy character of 
the work — the engineering difficulties of carrying the line over and under 
the Pyrenees, which here break up into detached spurs — has long de- 
layed the enterprise, lately so happily completed. The largest tunnel — in 
Guipuzcoa — is 2970 yards in length,- and is 1869 feet above the sea-level. 
Besides this, there are 22 other tunnels, measuring in all, six miles. The 
Viaduct of Orinostiqui is 1120 feet long, and is carried over five arches, 
each having a span of 150 feet. 

The construction of this road is a grand tribute to engineering skill, 
and will place Madrid within 35 hours of Paris." (Com. Rel., 1864, 279.) 



33 



Harvests in Spain — Recent Years. 

1865. Grain abundant. (U. S. Com. Rel., 1866, 215.) One-third above 

average. {Ibid, 219.) Largest for many years. {Ibid, 1865, 175.; 

1866. Grain hardly average. Potatoes deficient. (U. S. Com. Rel., 1867, 

343.) Grain one- third less than in 1865. (Br. Con. Rep., 1867, 88.) 
Drought in Alicante. {Ibid, 1867-4, 133.) 

1867. Grain moderately good. (Br. Con. Rep., 1868-7, 521.) Olives failed. 

{Ibid, 1867-3, 87.) Also silk ; this being the fifth year of failure. 
{Ibid.) 

1868. Grain deficient. (Br. Con. Rep., 1867-8, 521.) 

1869. Grain barely average. (U. S. Com. Rel., 1871, 1008.) 

1870. Grain harvest good. 

1871. Lemon crop in Andalusia the largest ever obtained. (U. S. Com. 

Rel., 1871, 1022.) 

1872. Grain crops fair. (U. S. Com. Rel., 1872, 777.) 

1873. Grain crops excellent. (U. S. Com. Rel,, 1873, 938.) 

1874. Grain crops good. 

It is said that when the harvests are good in one section, the north or 
south of Spain, they are bad in the other; (Br. C. R., 1868-7, 521); but 
this statement must be taken with considerable allowance for error. 
Variety of Agricultural Products. 

The agricultural products of Spain are almost endless in their variety.. 
The principal ones are as follows : 

Grain Crops. — Wheat, maize, barley, rye, buckwheat, millet, oats, rice.. 

Green Crops. — Clover, grass, kitchen vegetables. 

Boot Crops. — Sweet and Irish potatoes, cassava, {moniato or convolvolus- 
batatas,) raised in the Balearic Isles, and much used by the peasants for 
food ; (L. T.,) liquorice; catufas de Valencia; peanuts. 

Leguminous Crops. — Beans : 1 French beans ; 2 string beans ; 3 gar-, 
banzos ; 4 carob-beans (the algarobo or locust bean, used as cattle fodder). 

Fruits.-^- Apples, peaches, apricots, nectarines, pears, plums, cherries,, 
grapes, oranges, lemons, lLnes, pcmegranates, figs, olives, melons, ber- 
ries, prickly pears. 

Commercial Crops. —Sugar cane, cotton, esparto grass, hemp, flax, 
saffron, madder, red pepper, capers. 

Nuts and Forest Products. — Chestnuts, walnuts, almonds, hazel-nuts, 
cork, oak and pine bark, acorns. 

Animal Products. — Silk, wool, cheese, leather, eggs. 

Liquids. — Wine, spirits, ale, cider, oil. 

The grain crops will be more particularly mentioned hereafter. Of the 
other crops, those which demand attention on account of their importance 
are oranges and lemons, figs, olives, esparto grass, almonds, cork, silk, 
wine and olive oil. Some idea of the production of these articles in 
Spain may be gathered from the list of exports hereinafter given, after 
due allowance is made for the quantities consumed in the country of 
their production. 



34 



Prices. 

The average of the prices of grain and meat in all the 49 departments 
of Spain in the month of July, 1874, is shown in the following table from 
the Gaceta de Madrid : 

Average Prices in all tlie Provinces of Spain, July, 1874. 

Wheat, (Trigo) per bushel, $1.57^ 

Barley, (Vebada) " .94 

Rye, (Centeno) " 1 00 

Maiz«, (Maiz) " 1.14 

Rice, (Arroz) per pound, .05^ 

Large Chick Peas, (Garbanzos) " .06 

Mutton, {Camera) " .10 

Beef, (Vaca)..s " .11| 

Bacon, (Torino) " .16^ 

Maximum and Minimum Price* in Various Provinces. 
Wheat, maximum ■ per bushel, $2.73 

" minimum " .91 ^ 

Barley, maximum " 1.49 

" minimum " .50 

It is not explained how these prices are determined, nor whether they 
are wholesale or retail ; but I take it they are determined by public sales 
at market towns and at wholesale. The difference in prices in the vari- 
ous provinces, ranging from 91^c. to $2.73 per bushel for wheat, and 50c. 
to $1.49 per bushel for barley, show that, notwithstanding numerous 
railways, there still exist in Spain obstacles to the mobilization of bread- 
stuffs which should demand the serious attention of the Government. It 
can hardly be due merely to the cost of transportation by railway that 
wheat and barley are three times as high in one province as another, and 
the tables published every month in the Gaceta show this to be the case, 
more or less, throughout many years. Spain is an extensive country, and 
as yet comparatively destitute of water-ways and other cheap modes of 
carriage. Still, 500 miles by rail will carry a bushel of wheat from one 
end of the country to the other, and unless the extreme prices quoted 
are in places as yet remote from the established railway lines, or octroi 
duties hinder the free circulation of commodities, I am at a loss to account 
for the disparities shown in the prices of the principal edibles. 

Commercial Policy — Corn Laws — Tariff?, etc. 

The severe restrictions which formerly characterized the Spanish com- 
mercial policy have been much modified of late years. 

Until 1865 the exportation of breadstuffs, with occasional excep- 
tions at long intervals, was prohibited, except to the colmies. (U. S. 
Com. Rel., 1866, p. 215.) I find, however, that in 1860, 1861 and 1862 
there were, comparatively speaking, considerable exports of grain and 
flour from Spain to England, and I infer from this that the harvests of 



35 



those years were unusually abundant in the former country. Although 
the prohibition to export breadstuffs appears to have been removed in 
1865, there only appear to have been considerable exports of those arti- 
cles, since that date, in 1866, 1867, 1872, 1873 and 1874. 

The principal features of the regulations with regard to the importa- 
tion of breadstuffs appear to have been as follows : 

1849. Act of July 17 prohibited imports of breadstuffs except at periods 
of scarcity. (Com. Eel., 1862, 220.) 

1856. Grain crop deficient. Decree of May 13, 1857, admitted breadstuffs 
free until December 31, 1857. Decree of September 16, 1857, 
extended the time until June 30, 1858. Breadstuffs imported 
from France, Morrocco, Egypt, England and the Baltic. (Com. 
ReL, 1858, pp. 99-100.) 

1863. January 1, new tariff. Metrical system introduced at custom houses. 
Octroi duties abolished and tariff increased on principal "tropical" 
imports, such as tea, coffee, etc. Tariff schedule simplified, but 
rates not lowered; on contrary, raised. Importation of breadstuffs 
still prohibited. (Com. Rel., 1863, 217.) 

1865. April 1, regulations regarding imports of flour into colonies. June 
28, other regulations, to wit : heavy discriminating duties on 
foreign flour into colonies. For example, duty on American flour 
into Cuba $9.50 per bbL ; on Spanish, $2.25. (Com. ReL, 
1865, 176.) 

1867. Duties on agricultural implements reduced to one per cent, in 
Spanish and one and one-fifth per cent, in foreign vessels. ( U. S, 
Monthly Statistics, November, 1867.) 

1867. July 1, importation of grain still prohibited. (Br. Con. Rep., 
1867, 228.) 

1867. August 22, decree admitting breadstuffs as dutiable articles for 

four months. October 25, time extended to June 30, 1868. 

1868. January 11th and 17th, wheat and other alimentary substances 

admitted free. April 22, free entry of above articles extended to 
December 31, 1868. 

1869. July 12, new tariff in force from August 1. Duties reduced on 

certain classes of articles about five per cent. Premium of $3.50 
per 100 kilogrammes on exports of sugar refined in Spain. Dis- 
criminating duties abolished. Duties on agricultural implements 
one per cent, ad valorem. Duties per 100 kilos on rice, cleaned, 
$1.60 ; oats, 52c. ; barley and maize, 45c. ; wheat, 60c. ; and peas, 
beans, etc., 60c. On flour 50 per cent, in addition to the grain of 
which it is made. (For full schedule, see IT. S. Monthly 
Statistics, July, 1869.) 
1873. Breadstuffs still permitted to be imported. 



36 



Commerce. 

As increase of commerce is far from being a necessary indication of 
increase of wealth, I do not offer as evidence of progress in Spain the 
increase which has lately taken place in her commerce, both foreign and 
domestic. But as I wish to show the character of her foreign commerce, 
particularly the exports, and still more particularly the exports of agri- 
cultural produce, I herewith append a complete table of the exports of 
1872, and such other statistics on the subject as will tend to show the 
nature and extent of the agricultural and mineral products of Spain. 
Table Showing the Quantities of the Principal Articles Entered for Expor- 
tation at the Custom-Houses of Spain {including the Balearic Isles) 
during the Calendar Year 1872. 



Principal Articles, 


Quantities. 


Principal Articles. 


Quantities. 


Spirits (aguardiente), gallons.. 
Corks: manufactured. M 

manufactured, lbs 

Spices : anise, lbs 

saffron, lbs 

cumin, lbs 

pepper, ground, lbs 

Dry Fruits: almonds, lbs 

hazel-nuts, lbs 

raisins, lbs 

oranges, M 

grapes, lbs 

all other, lbs 


42,187,505 
1,552,367 
4,673,055 
1,015,312 
3,212,532 
1,248,643 
104,789,203 
6,201,923 
1,379,697 
174,900 
458,858 
846,270 
8,229,437 
12,257,696 
4,278,446| 
110,471,456; 
10,190, 715 1 
15,847,236[ 
547,400 
9,620,080 
2,485,767 
246,946 
977,051 
10.934,605 
3,472,341 
11,862,480 
6,394,923 
113,809,762 


Legumes: carob beans, lbs... . 

garbanzos, lbs 

beans, lbs 

French beans, lbs. 

Metals: quicksilver, lbs 

copper, ingots, lbs.. . 

Soup pastry (maccaroni, 
extract and paste, lbs 


10 ,379,672 
10,460,624 
9,708,472 
16,881,755 
7,576 205 
646,672 
1,338,113 
4.180,946 
'780,960 
12,476,053 
207,701,747 
73,596,800 
584,987.900 
1,578,831,800 
105,015.984 
4,304,582 

5,139,497 
13,719.741 
1,604,931 
328,908,136 
309.661 
1,250^200 
24 564,700 
2,645,400 
9,120,400 
567,000 
43,000 


wheat, lbs 


Wines : white, gal's 

common, gal's 

do. of Catalonia, gal's 
sherry and port, gal's 

other sweet, gal's 



The most valuable articles of export at the present time are, 1. Wines; 
2. Metals and ores ; 3. Fruits ; 4. Breadstuff's : 5. Oil ; 6. Cork ; 7. Cat- 
tle ; 8. Salt ; 9. Wool ; 10. Esparto ; 11. Silk ; and 12. Spirits ; and 
generally in the order named. 

Wines. — The export of wine consists chiefly of sherries, which had 
usually amounted to some 8,000,000 or 10,000,000 gallons per annum, but 
in 1873 rose to 15,000,000 gallons, and of common red wines, which had 
usually amounted to some 25,000,000 gallons per annum, but in 1873 rose 
to 40,000,000 gallons. The following remarks on these two classes of 
wine will doubtless be read with interest : 

About one-fifth of the entire shipments of so-called sherry wine 
from the Cadiz district consists of low and spurious compounds mixed in 
Spain, and worth in Cadiz from $50 to $100 per butt of 30 arrobas, say, net, 
100 gallons. About two-fifths consist of ordinary sherry, worth from 



37 



$125 to $225 per butt. About three-tenths consist of good sherry, worth 
from $225 to $350 per butt. The balance, one-tenth, consists of superior 
sherry, worth from $350 to $1,000 per butt. 

The best wines come from the district between Port St. Mary and 
Jerez, the low grades from other parts of Spain. The grapes are pressed 
with the feet, cased in sandals of esparto grass, and the wine has an 
earthy, tarry flavor, which is only removed from it after doctoring. The 
spurious compounds contain some of this wine, to which are added Ger- 
man potato-spirits, water, molasses, litharge and other adulterations. It is 
these two last grades of wine that the British chiefly sell and Americans 
buy. Indeed we buy from the British if even we buy in Cadiz ; for there 
a large portion of the houses engaged in the trade are English. The 
wines are entered at our custom-houses as containing less than 22 per 
cent, of alcohol ; while they really often contain 40 per cent. 

There are four substances generally used in the manufacture of sherry. 
First, gypsum ; second, a coloring substance ; third, a sweetening sub- 
stance ; fourth, a spirituous substance. It has already been stated how 
these adjuncts are supplied to the low grade sherries ; it only remains to 
state what substitutes for those mentioned are used in the preparation of 
the medium grades. 

First, gypsum ; second, color-wine, or wine boiled down to the consis- 
tency of sugar-house syrup ; third, sweet wine, or wine made from 
raisins ; fourth, brandy. Wine made in this manner is tolerably palata- 
ble. Most of the "crack" dry sherries belong to this class. They are 
entered at our custom-houses as containing not over 22 per cent, of alcohol. 
They really contain from 32 to 36 per cent. 

The only really pure sherry wine is Amontillado, but as every sort of 
trash is called Amontillado, it is difficult for any one but an expert to 
distinguish the genuine article from the spurious. However, it is pretty 
safe to say that little or none of it comes to the United States. 

Amontillado is not always the product of design. The quantity made 
in Spain is quite small, and the wine often the result of accident. To 
make this wine, the fruit is gathered some weeks earlier than for other 
sherries. The grapes are trodden by peasants with wooden sabots on 
their feet. The wine is then allowed to ferment for two months or more, 
when it is racked and placed in depositories above ground. Of a hundred 
butts but two or three may turn out Amontillado. This Amontillado is 
neither the product of particular vineyards, nor always the result of a 
careful or special mode of treatment, but the unaccountable offspring of 
several modes of treatment before, during and after fermentation. Fair 
Amontillado (by no means the best) is worth in Cadiz $1.50 to $2 a bottle. 
It probably cannot be purchased in the United States at any price. There 
is not a drop of spirits added to it, and no sherry wine containing foreign 
alcohol can be Amontillado. 

I am assured by the Spanish Consul at Philadelphia that a very con- 



38 



siderable proportion of the so-called French claret wines, mostly the 
lower grades, are compounds, made of Spanish wines, imported chiefly 
at Cette. These wines are mixed with water, cheap spirits, a purple-col- 
oring matter, and some other substances. They are then bottled, labeled 
with high sounding names and exported to all parts of the world as Bor- 
deaux wines. In many cases the adulteration is carried so far that there 
is scarcely a trace of wine in the mixture, and what there is of it is the 
common vino Unto of Spain, worth about 22 to 23 cents a gallon in that 
country. (The total value of the 37,262,126 gallons of this class of wine 
exported from Spain in 1873 was $8,467,785.) 

The following table shows the quantities of wines exported from the 
Peninsula of Spain and the Balearic Isles during the years 1872 and 1873 : 

Exportation^ of Domestic Wines from Spain in the Calendar Years 1872 
and 1873, respectively. 



Class of Wines. 



White wines . 

Common wines , 

Ditto of Catalonia 

Jerez (sherry) wines 

Malaga wines 

Rich wines (generosos) from various parts 

Total 



Breadstuff s. — This trade has increased enormously. Since the pro- 
hibition to export breadstuffs was removed in 1865, the shipments from 
Spain have increased over four times, or from about 5,250,000 bushels of 
wheat and flour to about 23,000,000 bushels. 



Table Showing the Exports op Wheat and Wheat Flour from 

Spain : 



Year. 


Flour. 
Pounds 


Wheat. 
Pounds. 


Total. 
Pounds. 


Year. 


Flour. 
Pounds. 


Wheat. 
Pounds. 


Total. 
Pounds. 


1860 
1861 
1862 
1863 
1864 
1865 
1866 


96,800,000 
160,600.000 
94,600,000 
84,620,800 
78,234,200 
87,687,600 
167.312,200 


No data. 

4,043,040 
2,430,300 
35,940,000 
147,336,000 


96,800,000 
160,600,000 
94 600.000 
88,663,840 
80,664,500 
123,627,600 
314,648,200 


1867 
1868 
1869 
1870 
1871 
1872 
1873 


110,074,800 
43,434,600 
No data. 

223,036,000 
441,540,000 


95,256,000 
5,040,000 
No data. 

250 382,000 
931,480,000 


205 330,800 
48,474,600 
Iv o data. 

473,418,000 
1,3730,20,000 



The exports of breadstuffs other than wheat or flour are unimportant. 
The following tables gives the details for the year 1872 and 1873 : 



1872. 
Gallons. 


1873. 
Gallons. 


1,250,153 
24,564,686 
2,645,432 
9,120,389 
566,504 
43,001 


1,409,110 
37,262,126 
2,713,083 
14,840,609 
315,998 
120,518 


38,190,165 


56,661,444 



39 



Table, showing the Exports of various Grains and Legumes from 
Spain, in the Years 1872 and 1873, respectively: 



Breadstuffs. 



Rice 

Oats 

Barley 

Rye 

Soup pastes 

Carob beans 

G-arbanzos (large chick peas) 

Beans 

French or Kidney beans. 

Total 



1872. 

POUNDS. 
10,934,00o! 

3, 472, 341 j 
11,862,479 

6,394,923 

5,139,497 
16,881,755 

7,576.205 
646,676 

1,338,113 



1873. 

POUNDS. 



10, 
6. 
6. 
4, 
4 
8, 
7, 
1, 
1, 



441,506 
174,870 
389,007 
033,663 
723.532 
783,780 
885,100 
255,465 
571,123 



64,246,594 ! 51,258,046 



The imports into Spain consist at the present time chiefly of tropical 
products and northern manufactures. Breadstuffs, chiefly wheat and 
maize, are only imported in years of scarcity. The following are the 
imports of breadstuffs in the year 1872 and 1873, respectively : 



Breadstuffs. 



Wheat 

Other grain 
Flour 



1872. 

POUNDS. 



62,473.622 
17,062,228 
16,179,207 



1873. 

POUNDS. 



154,000 
4,509,690 
153.000 



Mining. 

The revival of mining in Spain dates from the decree of Ferdinand 
VIL, of July 4, 1835. (Br. C. R., 1868-5, 299.) That this judgment 
must be well based is very evident from the degree of progress shown in 
the following tables. The statement for 1780 is from Hoppensack. quoted 
by Macgregor. Those for late years are from the Br. Con. Rep., 1867-8, 
560, the IT. S. Monthly Stat., Mar., 1870, and U. S. Com. Rel., 1873, 964. 

Table showing the number of metrical tons of (2,200 pounds each) of Ore 
raised in Spain during the years named. 



Year. 


Iron. 


L.ead. 


Argentiferous 
Lead. 


Silver. 


Copper. 


1780 


9,000 
175,503 


1,600 
320,603 






15 


1860 




4,230 


224 152 


1861 


130,259 


361,164 




3.005 


246,611 


1862 


213,192 


281,202 




2.523 


313.913 


1863 


212,676 


313,851 




3,060 


343 m 


1864 


253,120 


274,589 


25,111 


1,818 


213.389 


1865 


191,684 


271,318 


19,323 


1,125 


273,184 


1886 


180,131 


267,494 


21,312 


1,704 


279,527 


1870 


436,586 


318,985 


33,248 


2,679 


395,695 



40 



Year. 


Tin. 


Zinc. 


Oinnabar 
Mercury. 


Phosphorus. 


Antimony. 


Manganese. 


1780 





125 


900 




300 




1860 




108,802 


21,662 




28,863 


1861 




24,743 


18,254 






14,071 


1862 




41,104 


27,441 






6,459 


1863 




48,124 


26,304 






14,860 


1864 


"68 


80,222 


19,800 




"74 


22 246 


1865 


93 


70,158 


16,425 


12,800 


29 


24,864 


1866 


30 


73,423 


18,547 


9,304 




39,624 


1870 


28 


113,583 


23,744 


27,978 


80 


16,823 



Year. 


Alkali. 


Alum. 


Sulphur. 


Coal. 


Lignite. 


Asphaltum 


1780 
1860 
1861 
1862 
1863 
1864 
1865 
1866 
1870 








(1858, 170,000) 
321,773 
331 055 
360.246 
401,301 
387,904 
461,396 
393,105 
621.847 




3,825 
795 

2,663 
478 


17,557 
11.691 
5.022 
8,090 
11,822 
7,667 
9,912 
7.975 


8,179 
9 044 
7,588 
13,250 


23,045 
23,148 
12,639 
11.982 
9,788 
10,708 
16,242 
15,156 


17.523 
22,292 
28,696 
50,302 
38,529 
34,455 
39,559 
40,095 



The number of metrical tons of Salt produced in the Government Salt 
Mine was as follows * 



Year. 


Met. tons. 


Year. 


Met. tons. 


1860 


391,692 


1863 


187,271 


1861 


201,775 


1869 


170,000 


1862 


182,208 


1870 


37,917 



The number of producing Mines of all kinds throughout Spain and the 
laborers and steam engines employed therein are as follows : 



Year. 


Number of mines. 


Number of la- ■ 
borers. 


Number of steam 
engines. 


1860 


1,988 


33,297 


39 


1861 


1,795 


33,603 


51 


1862 


1,386 


36,635 


52 


1863 


1,594 


35,801 


64 


1864 


1,842 


37,201 


76 


1865 


1,912 


37,515 


80 


1866 


2,283 


38,483 


94 


1870 


3,381 


* 41,010 


148 



It needs but a cursory glance at these tables to perceive that of late 
years Spain has made great progress in this important branch of her na- 
tional industries. Details of the smelting and refining establishments 
for iron and steel, lead, silver, opper, etc., none of which nor their pro- 
ducts, have been included in the above tables, will be found in the 



* To wit : men, 33,277 : women, 1,508 ; boys, 6,225. 



41 



U. S. Com. Rel, for 1873. For account of power-looms, see Br. Con. 
Rep., 1867-8, 550 ; of fisheries, U. S. M. S., Mar., 1870 ; of manufactories 
in Catalonia, U. S. Com. Rel., 1862, 208 ; and 1864, 262. 

Product of Breadstuffs. 

The accounts of this product which have appeared from time to time 
vary so considerably, both as to total amounts and details that it is very 
difficult to reconcile them. 

The earliest account relates to the last half of the seventeenth century 
and is, I believe, from Miguel Ozorio y Redin. It states the total product 
of grain to be 120 million bushels, two-thirds wheat and rye, and one- 
third barley and oats. The population is believed to have been at that 
time about seven and a-half millions. The product adduced would there- 
fore equal 16 bushels per capita per annum, which seems excessive. The 
account is, however, not to be rejected as valueless. The numbers of 
the population supposed to have existed at that time are by no means 
certain ; the consumption of grain was probably greater, and of meat, 
less than at more recent periods. The account may not relate to an 
average year, but an exceptionally good one ; finally, it is to be presumed 
that, though not specified, the product of chestnuts, dry legumes and 
other substitutes for grain, is intended to be included in the principal 
articles mentioned. 

The next account, quoted by Macgregor from the "Census and Re- 
turns" of 1803, is as follows : 

Breadstuffs — Product of Spain, in 1803. 





Hectolitres. 


Bushels. 


Wheat 


17,060,000 
8,321,000 
5,626,000 
3,619,000 


47,768,000 
23,298,800 
15,752,800 
10,133,200 




Rye 






34,626,000 


. 96,952.890 



We have here, a total product of some 97 million bushels of grain for a 
population of some 10,400,000 souls, an average of about nine and a-half 
bushels per capita. Bearing in mind that potatoes, chestnuts and 
legumes are omitted, I am inclined, for various reasons, to regard this es- 
timate as substantially correct. 

Mr. L. S. Sackville West, H. B., M. Secretary of Legation at 
Madrid, in reporting to his Government, under date of July 1, 1865 (Rep. 
Sec. Leg , 1866, 179), states that "fifty years ago, Spain, say with a popu- 
lation of 10,000,000, produced 38 million hectolitres (106^ million bushels) 
of grain." This statement corroborates the census and returns of 1803. 

An estimate for the year 1849 appears in Mr. Joseph Fisher's work on 
Food Supplies (London, 1866), and gives the total product of cereals (omit- 



42 



ting maize) at 12,584,322 quarters, or say 100,674,576 bushels. Allowing 
20 million bushels for maize and two million bushels for rice, we have a 
total in round figures of 123 million bushels of grain. The population at 
that time amounted to about 13,700,000, and the product of grain was 
therefore about nine bushels per capita, a proportion which appears to 
be substantially correct. 

Says Mr. Sackville West: "In 1863, France produced * * * and 
Spain 66 million hectolitres of grain." As it is evident from the context 
and also from the fact that the cadastral census of Spain was taken in 
1857, that that is the year to which Mr. West refers in regard to Spain, 
I have taken the liberty to so treat his statement. Sixty-six million hec- 
tolitres amount to 184,800,000, bushels, and this, among a population of 
15,000,000, amounts to an average of about 12^ bushels each. If Mr. 
West's statement is applied to the year stated, 1863, when the population 
was a fraction over 16,000,000, the result would be an annual product per 
capita of about 11^ bushels. From both of these results I am inclined to 
believe that Mr. West's estimate includes potatoes, chestnuts and le- 
gumes. In such case I regard it as substantially correct. 

For the year 1857 we have another account. This was given by no less 
an authority than the late Albany W. Fonblanque, the accomplished sta- 
tistician of the British Board of Trade, and is published in the Agricultural 
Returns of H. B. M. Board of Trade for the year 1867. Ever since that 
year it has been regularly published in the Returns as the " estimated 
quantities of the principal kinds of corn and potatoes produced in Spain," 
and it therefore appears in the A. R. for 1874, over the signature of Mr. 
A. R. Valpy, Mr. Fonblanque's no less accomplished successor. Not- 
withstanding these high authorities and the official sanction which the 
publication of the account in such a work conveys, I am compelled to 
regard it as defective. It states that Spain produced in 1857, 168,140,692 
bushels of wheat ; of barley 76,427,587 bushels ; and of rye, 24,727,483 
bushels ; together, 269,295,762 bushels of grain ; an average of nearly 18 
bushels per capita of population, to say nothing of maize and patatoes, 
which aie important articles of consumption in Spain ; nor of oats, rice, 
buckwheat, millet, chestnuts nor legumes — proportions that so radically 
dilfer from all other accounts as to lead to the suspicion that error has 
been committed in the conversion of the quantities. 

For the year 1868 we have the account laid before the Statistical 
Congress at the Hague, by Mr. Samuel B. Ruggles, of New York. This 
is as follows : 

Cereal product of Spain, with Balearic Islands, in 1868: wheat, impe- 
rial bushels, 87,732,150; rye, 44,427,940; barley, 47,731,500; oats (included 
with other cereals); buckwheat and millet, 22,975,300; maize, nil; rice, 
2,000,000; total 204,866,890 imperial bushels. With the exception of rye 
which is over-estimated, and buckwheat and millet, the estimated pro- 
duct of which ought to be credited almost entirely to maize, I am inclined 
to regard Mr. Ruggles' account as substantially correct. The total sum 



43 



gives an average allowance of grain per capita of about 12£ bushels, 
which agrees with all of the estimates that are regarded as reliable. 

For the year 1873, I have the following very explicit and detailed ac- 
count, recently transmitted to me from Spain : 

Account of the produce of Breadstuffs in Spain and the Balearic and Ca- 
nary Islands for the year 1873. 



Breadstuffs. 



Wheat 
Barley, 
Rye... 
Oats . . 
Maize. 



Reckoning the population in 1873 at about 17,200,000, the result is an 
average of all kinds of breadstuffs of 13.8 bushels per capita, and of 
grain alone 170,000,000 bushels, or about 9.9 bushels per capita. Allow- 
ing 23,000,000 bushels for the export of grain, the consumption would be 
147,000,000 bushels, or 8.5 per capita. 

I am inclined to believe that this account, though it agrees very well 
with those relating to previous years, underrates the true product 
of Spain, though perhaps only to a small extent. Altogether it is the best 
account we have, and must be taken as an exponent of Spain's present 
capacity to produce breadstuffs until a more definite account can be ren- 
dered. Grouping together such of the preceding accounts as seem reli 
able, we have the following comparative results : 
Comparative Estimate of the Breadstuffs product of Spain 
at Various Periods. 



Bushels. 



110,000,000 



Breadstuffs. 



Rice ! 

40, 000, 000 ! B uckwheat and Millet 

20, 000, 000 ' Potatoes 

3,000,000'Chesnuts 

25, 000,000] Dry Legumes 



Bushels. 



2,000,000 
5,000,000 
25,000,000 
3,000,000 
5,000,000 



Total 238,000,000 



Year. 


. Potatoes, Chest- 
Gram. | nuts ana- 
Bushels. Legumes. 

Bushels. 


Total Bread- 
stuffs. 
Bushels. 


Population. 
Approximative 


1803 


97,000,000 




10,400,000 
13,700,000 
15,000,000 
16,700,000 
17,200,000 


1849 


123,000,000 




1857 




184,800,000 


1868 


205,000,666 


1873 


203,000,000 i 33,000,000 


238,000,000 



These results, in the transcendantly important department of agricul- 
tural production, show the same remarkable advance during the past 
twenty years as has already been noticed in other respects, and fully 
establish the claims set forth at the outset of this paper. 

It will perhaps be noticed that, except as to exports in the year 1873, 1 
have taken no notice of the imports and exports of breadstuffs. The 
reason for this was that among the periods under review relating to agri- 
cultural production, 1873 was the only year in which the foreign com- 
mercial movement of breadstuffs appeared worthy of note. 



